VILNIUS, Lithuania -- Marathoner Zivile Balciunaite of Lithuania lost her appeal of a two-year doping ban Monday, ruling her out of the London Olympics and stripping her of her 2010 European championships title.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the appeal. The ban had been imposed by Lithuania's track and field federation in 2010 after Balciunaite failed a doping test because of excessive levels of testosterone and epitestosterone.
Balciunaite finished first at the 2010 European championships in Barcelona, Spain. Now, second-place Nailya Yulamanova of Russia is set to be upgraded to the gold medal, with Italy's Anna Incerti getting the silver and Ukraine's Tatyana Filoniuk the bronze.
"Nobody even told me this. Maybe they were saving the bad news for my birthday," said Balciunaite, who turns 33 on Tuesday.
Balciunaite has denied the doping charges, contending the test results may have been influenced by a prescription drug from her gynecologist.
She has been training in hopes she could run at this summer's London Games. The suspension expires Sept. 6.