Former 400 world champion Montsho banned 2 years for doping

Former 400-meter world champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana has been banned for two years for doping after testing positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine at last year's Commonwealth Games.

Montsho's ban was decided on by a disciplinary committee at the end of last month, Botswana Athletics Association President Moses Bantsi said Wednesday.

The decision was sent to the IAAF before being made public, Bantsi said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. The 31-year-old Montsho, the 2011 world champion, has indicated she will appeal, he said.

Montsho failed a doping test after the 400-meter final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last August, when she finished fourth to surrender her Commonwealth title.

Montsho was the first Botswana athlete to win a gold medal at the world championships and also its first Commonwealth champion. A trailblazer for track in her country, she was also the first woman to compete for Botswana at the Olympics when she ran at the 2004 Games in Athens.

Montsho's ''A'' and backup ''B'' samples both tested positive for traces of methylhexaneamine in Glasgow. Her case was passed on to the IAAF, and then to Botswana's national federation.

Bantsi said the IAAF could review the case and the two-year ban if Montsho appealed. She has 21 working days from the date of the decision - Feb. 25 - to lodge her appeal, Bantsi said.

Montsho was one of two athletes to fail doping tests at last year's Commonwealth Games. The other was teenage weightlifter Chika Amalaha of Nigeria, who was stripped of her gold medal after testing positive for diuretics and masking agents.