By David Gold

nurcan taylanJanuary 1 - Turkey's weightlifting federation has announced that Nurcan Taylan has failed a drug's test and will likely miss the London 2012 Olympic Games.


Taylan, who won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, set a world record in the 48kg class in clean and jerk at the 2010 World Championships

The 28-year-old will now have to defend herself at the International Weightlifting Federation, who could impose a ban of up to four years.

Hasan Akkus, the head of the Turkish weightlifting federation, revealed that she tested positive for an unspecified substance on October 26 before a second test confirmed the result.

Taylan had originally protested the positive result of the initial test and was subsequently withdrawn from the World Championships in Paris last month.

The weightlifter marked her arrival on the international stage when she won gold at the European junior weightlifting championships in 2002.

She has won a number of world and European medals since, winning gold at the European Championships for four consecutive years.

Turkey has had problems with doping in the sport before.

In 2005 its weightlifters were temporarily suspended when three of their competitors avoided taking a doping test.

The World and Olympic champion Halil Mutlu was also banned between 2005 and 2007 for a doping offence.

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