Fraser and her 2004 British 4x400 metres team mates could be the beneficiaries of revelations at the weekend that Crystal Cox, a member of the American relay squad which won gold at the Athens Games in 2004, has admitted using banned drugs.

If the world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), confirms that the United States team is disqualified, they will be stripped of their gold medals and the Great Britain squad who placed fourth in the Athens final behind Russia and Jamaica, will be promoted to the bronze medal position.

"'If’ is a big word,” Fraser said today, "but if we get it, then it’ll be fantastic news for all our team and a real boost."

Fraser’s team mates in Athens were Catherine Murphy, Lee McConnell, plus Helen Karagounis, who ran in place of Fraser in the heats, and Christine Ohuruogu, who went on to win individual 400m gold in Beijing in 2008.

Cox accepted a four-year ban after she admitted using anabolic steroids and hormones obtained from the notorious Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative - or Balco - from 2001 until 2004.

In a statement issued by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), "all of Cox's competitive results will be disqualified, including forfeiture of all medals, points, and prizes since November 3, 2001".

Subject to confirmation by the IAAF and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that almost certainly includes the Olympic gold medal Cox (pictured) received after helping the US team qualify in the 4x400m heats in Athens six years ago.

The American quartet which won the final, Monique Henderson, Monique Hennagan, Sanya Richards and Deedee Trotter, will also forfeit their medals.

If the Americans are stripped of their medals, it will be the fourth Olympic relay medal a US team has lost because of doping since 2000.

Two of the back-dated disqualifications involve the women’s relay teams at the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of the participation of Marion Jones, probably one of the biggest names implicated in the Balco investigation.

The IOC has also taken the Sydney Games gold medals of the US men's 4x400m relay team that included Michael Johnson because of doping violations by Jerome Young and Antonio Pettigrew.

Pettigrew’s 2008 admission of long-term use of banned drugs has also seen the Americans lose the 1997 4x400m relay world title, with Britain promoted to gold medals.

The British squad of Iwan Thomas, Roger Black, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson and Mark Hylton have had to campaign to ensure a public presentation of their long-awaited medals.

Where to make the presentation of those medals was on the agenda at the UK Athletics’ Council meeting at the end of January.

Now, it seems, UK Athletics will also have to arrange a belated presentation to Britain’s 2004 women’s relay squad as well.

Fraser, 37, retired from international athletics last September after a career that spanned two decades, beginning with a European Junior title in 1991 and including an individual Commonwealth bronze in 1998.

She ran the race of her life in the Olympic final in Sydney in 2000, but despite clocking 49.79sec she could only place fourth behind gold medallist, Australia’s Cathy Freeman, and her British team mate, Katharine Merry, who took bronze.

Now Fraser, finally, may get a cherished Olympic medal.

"I don’t want to say too much, because it might tempt fate, but this really is excellent news in so many ways.

"In the British team, we were always aware of what might be going on with athletes from other nations, but we tried to put that out of our minds and just concentrate on doing our best.

"So when something like this happens, it’s fantastic news for all our hard work, and because it shows that the testing system is working.

"Probably the only sad thing is that we will never have that moment on the podium with the flag flying.

"But it’s certainly better late than never."