I have declared my innocence, I have never taken any banned substance Diane Modahl

"I am horrified at the decision and at the prospect of the nightmare of the last four months continuing," she said.

"I sat through the whole of yesterday's hearing. I listened to all the evidence.

"I felt sure the committee would decide there were too many doubts raised about the reliability of the test results.

Appeal option

"I have declared my innocence, I have never taken any banned substance."

Modahl, whose husband Vicente is her coach, said she would take the case to the Independent Appeal Panel.

Her defence argues there was a degradation of the urine sample taken after the Santo Antonio athletic meeting in Lisbon.

They claim the Lisbon laboratory failed to follow good practices, casting real doubt over the result.

But the BAF panel chairman, Dr Martyn Lucking, said:"Having heard all the evidence and considered all the documents, the committee was satisfied unanimously beyond all reasonable doubt that a doping offence had been committed by Mrs Modhal."

She can now appeal to a BAF board, after that she could go to an arbitration tribunal run by the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the sports' world governing body.

If that failed she could then take her case to its council.

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