Henrique Rodrigues was found to have a small amount of clostebol in samples he provided in March ©Getty Images

Triple Pan American Games swimming gold medallist Henrique Rodrigues has tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol.

According to SwimSwam, the Brazilian was found to have the banned substance in his system following a surprise test done by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in March.

The presence of clostebol was found in the A sample from Rodrigues and the results of the B sample released on Thursday confirmed the discovery, although the amount found in the swimmer’s system was relatively small at 0.1 nanograms with two metabolites.

He had also provided two negative tests either side of the samples taken in March.

Reports have claimed several rounds of analysis were required to find remnants of the drug in the B sample.

The case is being taken to the FINA Doping Panel.

Henrique Rodrigues has won three Pan American Games golds and narrowly missed out on a final spot at the Rio 2016 Olympics ©Getty Images
Henrique Rodrigues has won three Pan American Games golds and narrowly missed out on a final spot at the Rio 2016 Olympics ©Getty Images

Clostebol, which is included in the S1 category of the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list, is often found in creams used for cuts and it is thought Rodrigues could have come into contact with it after touching someone else who used a product with the substance in.

Rodrigues, 26, won the first of his three Pan American gold medals at the 2011 Games in Guadalajara as part of Brazil’s men’s 4x100 metre freestyle relay team.

He then added two more golds at Toronto 2015 in the 200m individual medley and 4x200m freestyle relay.

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Rodrigues just missed out of the 200m individual medley final as he was the ninth fastest in the semi-finals, 0.38sec behind the eighth quickest, Germany’s Philip Heintz.