Sport: Olympic 400m champion tests positive

Doping: Another champion tests positive. American 400m champion LaShawn Merritt tested positive three times between October 2009 and January 2010. He has been provisionally suspended.

The athlete, Olympic champion in 2008 and world champion in 2009 in the 400m, tested positive for DHEA (anabolic steroid) three times between October 2009 and January 2010. For the time being, he has been provisionally suspended, his lawyer announced in a press release on Thursday. According to lawyer Howard Jacobs, «the presence of DHEA and prednisolone in Merritt's system can be explained by the over-the-counter penis enlargement medication he used periodically after the 2009 season».

«LaShawn Merritt was not notified of these positive tests until March 2010 and only recently learned that D. H. E.A. was the cause of the result,« the statement said. Research revealed that it was the penis enhancer drug that contained DHEA.

Source: France 24