Martina Dominici has been banned for three years ©Getty Images

Gymnast Martina Dominici has been banned for three years after testing positive for steroids and has additionally lost five continental medals. 

The 19-year-old from Argentina returned samples which contained metabolites of stanozolol and oxandrolone in June.

The first was collected on June 5 at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships in Rio de Janeiro, and the second was the consequence of an out-of-competition test on June 16.

Dominici had won vault gold, all-around and floor silver, uneven bars bronze and a team all-around bronze medals at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships.

Those results have all been disqualified.

Martina Dominici has been stripped of five Pan American Gymnastics Championships medals ©Getty Images
Martina Dominici has been stripped of five Pan American Gymnastics Championships medals ©Getty Images

The International Testing Agency, which handles the anti-doping results-management process for he International Gymnastics Federation, said that Dominici had escaped a four-year ban because she did not challenge the rule violation and accepted her punishment.

The sanction was therefore reduced to a three-year suspension.

Dominici cannot compete again until Jun 21 2024 - little more than a month before the Paris 2024 Olympics begin - but is likely to be banned for the entirety of the qualification process.

She is a former South American Games all-around champion, winning that gold medal as a 16-year-old in Cochabamba.