Russian Olympic swimmer narcs out grandmother for steroid masking agent

February 25, 2007

MOSCOW-- World swimming champion Anastasiya Ivanenko has pleaded innocent after failing a doping test, saying she took a banned substance by mistake.

The Russian, who tested positive for the diuretic furosemide -- a masking agent -- last month, said her grandmother gave her the substance after she felt sick.

Ivanenko, 18, who won the women's 800 metres freestyle title at last year's world short course championships in Shanghai, China, faces a two-year ban if found guilty.

"She said it was her grandmother who gave her the pills," a Russian swimming official said.