Latvia recorded their highest ever placing at a Winter Olympics in Sochi with eighth, after taking eventual gold medallists Canada to overtime before losing their quarter-final encounter 2-1 .

But that performance was overshadowed by the revelation forward Vitalijs Pavlovs had tested positive for the substance methylhexaneamine.

Reports last month hinted at another Latvian player being investigated over allegations he failed a drugs test, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirming today that Freibergs was the guilty party.

The defenceman - the only player from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to have taken part in Sochi - has been disqualified from the men's quarter-finals and is considered as excluded from Sochi 2014, the IOC has said.

The 23-year-old tested positive for an anabolic androgenic steroid on February 22 after giving a urine sample following the quarter-final defeat to Canada two days earlier.

Ralfs Freibergs tested positive in a urine sample he provided just days after Latvia's quarter-final loss to Canada at the Sochi Winter Games ©MCT/Getty Images



An IOC Disciplinary Commission, consisting of Denis Oswald, Gunilla Lindberg and Claudia Bokel, investigated the case and on further analysis and a hearing involving a representative of Freibergs, unanimously ruled the results from the February 22 sample were valid, forcing them to sanction the Latvian player.

Alongside his disqualification from Sochi 2014, Freibergs is now expected to return his eighth place diploma, with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) requested to "make appropriate mention of the above in the record of the sports results, and to consider whether it should take any further action within its competence".

Despite being the second Latvian player to fail a drugs test, the Latvian men's ice hockey team will not be disqualified from the Games.

Under article 9.1 of the IOC anti-doping rules for Sochi 2014, and article 5.9 of the IIHF disciplinary regulations: "No consequences apply to the team results unless an anti-doping violation is established with respect to more than two members of the team.

"Therefore, no consequences have to be considered in respect of the team results at this stage."

The IIHF has not yet commented on the sanctions, nor on any further action that will be taken against the Latvian, however, Freibergs could now face a possible two-year ban as a first time offender, under the IIHF disciplinary regulations.

The Latvian becomes the eighth athlete to fail a drugs test at 2014 Sochi and the third ice hockey player.

German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle was the first to test positive, followed by Italian bobsledder William Frullani, Ukrainian cross-country skier Marina Lisogor, Swedish ice hockey player Nicklas Bäckström, Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Duerr, Pavlovs and Polish bobsledder Daniel Zalewski.

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