RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 6: Brazilian swimmer Rebeca Gusmao has been banned for life after twice failing a doping test, the Brazilian Confederation of Water Sports (CBDA) said on Friday.

“The CBDA... has just received from the International Swimming Federation (FINA) the decision of FINA’s Doping Commission, which has decided to suspend Rebeca Gusmao for life,” the governing body said in a statement.

Gusmao was banned for two years in May after high levels of testosterone were found in a doping test taken on July 13 last year, the opening day of the Panamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro.

She was also stripped of the 50 and 100 metres freestyle gold medals she won in Rio plus the silver in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay and bronze in the 4 x 100 medley relay.

In July, FINA handed her another two-year ban after judging her guilty of a doping offence at a Brazilian meeting in 2006 when testosterone was again detected.

The case was more protracted as the CBDA initially said it could not establish a doping offence had been committed.

Gusmao has repeatedly protested her innocence, saying the anti-doping procedures used at the Panamerican Games were wrong and that she is being persecuted.

She has appealed against the result of the Panamerican Games test to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which has still to make a ruling.—Reuters