Maksimov banned two years for steroid use

Olympic swimming pool. (AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Russian swimmer Nikita Maksimov has been banned for two years after testing positive for an anabolic steroid widely given to East German athletes in the 1970s and 1980s.

Swimming’s world governing body, FINA, says Maksimov tested positive for Oral-Turinabol in a sample taken during training in March.

FINA says the Russian swimming federation suspended him through April 3, 2015.

Oral-Turinabol is best known as the drug administered in the former East Germany as part of state-sponsored doping programs.

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