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Syrian finishes dead last, then booted after positive banned stimulant test

A female athlete from Syria has been kicked out of the London Olympics after testing positive for a banned stimulant.

The IOC, Saturday revealed 400m hurdler Ghfran Almouhamad's urine sample tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine on August 3 two days before her race.

Despite this, the hurdler finished eighth and last in her first round hurldles heat two days after the test was sample was taken.

The substance methylhexaneamine is commonly used in nasal spray decongestant products - it's also come to the fore recently in New Zealand as one of the ingredients in the growing party pill industry.

The drug is certainly a stimulant but performance enhancing? On current evidence that is still under question.

Almouhamad, however, suffered a rapid judicial process having already being stripped of her accreditation and having her official Olympic result listed as disqualified.