The Ukrainian athletics federation have given Blonska the stiffest sentence

Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska has been handed a lifetime ban after testing positive for an anabolic steroid at the Beijing Olympics.

The 30-year-old, who had already been stripped of her silver medal, was given the stiffest punishment because it was her second doping offence.

She was handed a two-year ban in 2003 after traces of the banned substance stanozolol were found in her system.

Blonska's coach and husband Serhiy Blonsky also received a life ban.

The heptathlete was thrown out of the Olympics after both her A and B samples had tested positive.

At the time she described herself as "shocked" by the positive result, and that she did not understand how the substance had ended up in her body.