Swimming-Russian Efimova facing life ban for doping - report

MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - Russian Yulia Efimova could be facing a life ban from swimming after she tested positive for meldonium, the TASS news agency reported on Wednesday. The 23-year-old four-times breaststroke world champion, who has been based in the United States since 2011, tested positive for the drug during an out of competition test. "The federation is aware of Efimova giving a positive doping test for meldonium," a source from the All-Russian Swimming Federation (ARSF) said. Efimova, bronze medallist at the 2012 London Olympics in the 200 metres, could be handed a life-time ban from competitive swimming as she has previously failed a drugs test. In May 2014, she was disqualified for 16 months by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) after traces of the anabolic steroid DHEA, which speeds up metabolism and helps with weight loss, were found in her system at an out of competition test in Los Angeles in 2013. Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances on Jan 1. Ten Russian sportsmen and women have been found to have taken meldonium, including tennis player Maria Sharapova, figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova and speed-skater Pavel Kulizhnikov. (Reporting by Dmitriy Rogovitskiy, editing by Ed Osmond)