Chinese hammer has positive doping case overturned

File photo of Zhang Wenxiu during the Incheon Asian Games in South Korea, September of 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu, who was kicked out of last year's Asian Games after failing a dope test, has had her gold medal returned, the Olympic Council for Asia (OCA) said on Wednesday.

Zhang set an Asian Games record with a throw of 77.33 metres to win the women's hammer title in Incheon, South Korea last September before a pre-competition test revealed traces of Zeranol, a banned substance used as a growth promoter in livestock.

The 29-year-old, bronze medallist at the Beijing Olympics and Asian Games champion in 2006 and 2010, was stripped of her medals and her Games' credentials.

"Following further testing performed by independent specialists, the Olympic Council of Asia was informed that such testing had established that the presence of Zeranol was, as Ms. Zhang asserted, the consequence of the consumption of contaminated food," read an OCA statement.

"Based on this new information and supported by WADA, the Olympic Council of Asia recognises that Ms Zhang did not return an Adverse Analytical Finding for the presence of Zeranol, nor therefore commit an Anti-Doping Rule Violation during the 2014 Asian Games.

"Accordingly, the Olympic Council of Asia will return the gold medal to Ms Zhang."