Swimming: World record holder Etiene Medeiros tests positive

Brazil's Etiene Medeiros poses with her silver medal for the women's 50m backstroke at the 2015 Fina World Championships. PHOTO: AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - World record holder Etiene Medeiros, one of Olympic hosts' Brazil's top hopes of a medal at the Rio Games, has tested positive for a banned substance, the Brazilian anti-doping authority (ABCD) confirmed on Thursday (June 16).

The 25-year-old swimmer tested positive for traces of fenoterol - a drug used to treat asthma - in an out-of-competition test in Sao Paulo on May 8.

Both the A and B samples tested positive.

The ABCD said they had forwarded all the details to the Brazilian Swimming Federation for them to begin disciplinary proceedings against the swimmer.

The Brazilian federation told AFP on Thursday they were "waiting to receive official notification before making an announcement".

Medeiros burst into the limelight in 2014, winning the short course world title in the 50m backstroke in Doha in a world record time.

She won silver in the 50m backstroke at last year's world championships in Kazan, and was the first Brazilian woman to win swimming gold at a Pan American Games with her 100m backstroke gold in Toronto in 2015.

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