Montsho, winner of the 400m at the 2011 International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in Daegu before finishing runner-up two years later in Moscow, failed a test for banned stimulant methylhexaneamine following her fourth-place finish at Glasgow 2014 on July 29, behind Jamaican winner Stephenie McPherson.

She faces a possible two-year ban as well as being stripped of her recent results.

But the 31-year-old has exercised her right to request that a B-sample be tested and until the result is known, no further action will be taken.

A spokesperson from the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) told insidethegames today that they had been warned analysis of the B-sample, taking place at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory in London, is a process that will take some time to be completed.

In the meantime, she remains provisionally suspended from competition and will not race at the 19th African Athletics Championships, beginning today in Moroccan city Marrakech, where the Botswanan would have been the clear favourite to defend the title she won two years ago in Porto-Novo, Benin. 

In a press release, BNOC claimed that Letsholo M. Letsholo, Botswana's Chef de Mission at Glasgow 2014, and athletics team manager, Glody Dube, are offering the athlete the "necessary support".

It was also claimed the BNOC is offering athletes information on the risks and dangers of taking medications and supplements and "remains committed to a doping free sporting environment at all levels, in the spirit of fair play".

Amantle Montsho was narrowly beaten by Britain's Christine Ohuruogu at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow ©Getty Images






The case involving Montsho is a major blow for athletics following the high profile cases involving sprinters Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson in 2013.

It was the second failed test of Glasgow 2014, following 16-year-old Nigerian weightlifter Chika Amalaha being stripped of the gold medal in the under 53 kilogram category, with victory being awarded instead to Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea.

But it also marked the latest in a growing number of doping cases involving methylhexaneamine, a substance that, after being originally developed in 1944 as a nasal decongestant pharmaceutical drug, has re-emerged in recent years and has been distributed under a variety of different names as an energy-boosting dietary supplement.

Three athletes tested positive for it at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics earlier this year: Latvian ice hockey player Vitalijs Pavlovs, Italian bobsleigh brakeman and former decathlete William Frullani, and Germany's gold medal-winning biathlete, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle.

Several excuses have already been offered as to why Montsho failed a test for the substance, with the Botswana Gazette quoting a source close to the athlete who said she had unknowingly consumed an energy drink containing the product before the Games.

Other reports have said she took it inadvertently as part of a flu medication.

But, even if true, Montsho still faces a suspension, with organisations including the WADA having repeatedly insisted that athletes are liable for any substance found in their doping control sample, regardless of how they got there.