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MOSCOW (AFP)

Rising Russian gymnastic star Kristina Goryunova will not be able to compete in the 2012 Olympics after being suspended for a year by her national federation on Wednesday for using banned medication, local media reported.

Reports said that the samples taken from the 17-year-old at the national championships in November 2009, contained traces of the forbidden substance (one of furosemide analogues).

Goryunova justified the results by saying she was taking a food additive trying to lose weight, adding she did not know that it contained the banned substance.

The decision means Goryunova, Russia’s champion and a many-time winner on the World Cup circuit, the right to participate in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.