Drugs ban could give Holmes help

Kelly Holmes' hopes of following up on her Olympic bronze medal in Sydney last year were given a massive boost today after Brazilian rival Fabiane dos Santos was thrown out of the World Championships for failing a drugs test.

In the first major doping scandal to rock Edmonton, Dos Santos was forced to pull out of tomorrow's opening heats of the 800m after it emerged she produced a positive test for testosterone at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio De Janeiro on 6 May.

It follows the suspension yesterday of Canadian 100m champion Venolyn Clarke, who failed a drugs test for the banned steroid stanozolol at a pre-competition training camp.

Dos Santos, who spent her early years in the Amazon rain forest, has been the major shock of the athletics world this year, coming from nowhere to run herself into contention for the world title.

She almost beat Mozambique's Olympic champion Maria Mutola earlier this season and pulled off a shock victory over Olympic silver medallist Steffi Graf of Austria and Holmes at the British Grand Prix at Crystal Palace last month. To emphasise her remarkable rise she was ranked just 75th in the world at the start of the year.

After Dos Santos won at Crystal Palace Holmes predicted she might get disqualified - but for her "rough" racing style, not for drugs.

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