By Mike Rowbottom

Zivile_BalciunaiteJanuary 7 - European marathon champion Zivile Balciunaite (pictured) has been left off the list of Lithuania's athletes for the London 2012 Olympics amid investigations into an adverse doping test.


"Zivile Balciunaite was left off the list while her case is still to be resolved," Algirdas Raslanas, vice-president of Lithuania's National Olympic committee, said.

Balciunaite, whose victory on July 31 made her the first Lithuanian woman to earn a European medal in a running event, was provisionally suspended by her home athletics federation last October after a urine sample - taken after her race in Barcelona - revealed abnormal levels in the ratio between the male sex hormone testosterone and epitestosterone.

The 31-year-old claimed the results could be explained by Duphaston, a drug prescribed to her by her gynaecologist.

The affair is now being dealt with by athletic's governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after the Lithuanian Athletics Federation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to issue a ban.

Balciunaite, who won her gold in the Mediterranean heat in 2 hours 31min 14sec, four years after finishing fourth at the European Championships in Gothenburg, faces a two-year ban if found guilty, and would lose her title to Russia's Nailya Yulamanova.

The Lithuanian has also competed at the Olympic marathon in 2004 and 2008, finishing 14th in Athens and 11th in Beijing in a personal best of 2:29:33.

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