Rio Olympics: Greek athlete sent home from mega event after failed drugs test

Rio de Janeiro: An unnamed Greek athlete has tested positive and been expelled from the Rio Games, the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) announced Friday, hours before the Games get underway in Brazil.

The Greek competitor`s A sample returned positive for a banned substance in a pre-Games test in Athens and the athlete has already left the Olympic village.

"The (Greek) Olympic team in Rio announces the positive first sample of a member of the team during drugs testing conducted in early July in Athens," the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) said in a statement.

As the positive test was outside the Olympics window the competitor is not considered to be the first athlete to have failed a drugs test at the 2016 Games.