Oz swimmer Napoleon banned from Delhi Commonwealth Games

Australian swimmer Ryan Napoleon has been banned from participating in the Delhi Commonwealth Games after testing positive for the banned substance Formoterol.

Swimming governing body FINA imposed the ban on Thursday, even though it accepted that an innocent mistake was made when Napoleon took incorrectly labelled medication before he tested positive on November 16.

Napoleon said that he felt "devastated" after being ruled out of the Commonwalth Games by a three-month doping ban.

Napoleon had qualified to contest the 400m and 1500m freestyle at the Delhi Games in October, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Swimming Australia (SA) said Napoleon, 20, has taken the asthma medication Pulmicort for most of his life. However, on this occasion, a Pulmicort inhaler was wrongly labelled by a pharmacist and was actually Symbicort, which contains Formoterol.

"It's devastating. It's extremely disappointing and something that I have been dealing with since April this year when I was first notified that there was an issue," Napoleon said.

"A mistake was made, and the FINA panel accepted that a mistake was made in the hearing, but as an athlete I still understand that I have a responsibility to check all my medication thoroughly," he said.