Latvian rower in positive drugs test

Rob Waddell won the men's single sculls in Sydney

Latvia's lone rowing competitor faces a life ban from the sport after becoming the fifth athlete to be kicked out of the Olympics for failing a drugs test.

Andris Reinholds, who finished eighth in the single sculls, tested positive for the steroid nandrolone following a random urine test.

The test showed a level four times above the allowable threshold and rowing's governing body FISA confirmed it would consider banning Reinholds for life.

Although the Latvian delegation were not available for comment, International Olympic Committee medical commission chairman Prince Alexandre de Merode said they were claiming Reinhold's positive test resulted from using Chinese herbal medicine.

Reinholds, a builder and engineer who is coached by his wife, listed "winning a medal at the world championships or at the Sydney Olympics" as one of his lifetime goals.

Expulsion

In Atlanta four years ago he finished 10th in the single sculls and ninth in the double event, while in 1997 he finished fourth in both the world championships in Munich and the world rowing cup in Paris.

Having been thrown out of the Olympics, Reinhold's fate now rests with the FISA, who claim drug offences in rowing are "extremely rare."

Reinhold's expulsion brings the number of competitors thrown out of the Sydney Games to five.

Three Bulgarian weightlifters were stripped of their medals after testing positive for a banned weight-loss diuretic and a hammer thrower from Belarus was thrown out after testing positive for steroids in an out-of-competition test.