POSTED: July 23rd 2009

NewsUpdate

London 2012 the only consolation for Russian dope-test tricksters

KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications

LONDON/LAUSANNE: Russian athletes who have had their dope-test bans extended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport may use the possibility of competing at London 2012 as comeback motivation.

That consolation was raised by middle-distance runner Svetlana Cherkasova after she and six fellow athletes had suspensions extended after an appeal by the International Athletics Federation.

The others were fellow middle-distance runners Yelena Soboleva, Olga Yegorova, Yelena Fomenko, former 1,500 metres world champion Tatyana Tomashova, discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova and former hammer world record-holder Gulfia Khanafeyeva.

Cherkasova, who was sixth in the 800m at the 2007 world championships in Osaka and competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said: “We are all very disappointed but we could still have a chance to compete at the 2011 world championships and the Olympics in London so that's a plus.”

Samples manipulation

In March 2007 the IAAF had launched an inquiry into the possible manipulation of out-of-competition urine samples. The Russian Athletics Federation found them guilty last October and suspended them for two years each. The IAAF went to CAS to demand that the bans be increased to four years.

The Court duly amended the starting dates of the original bans to July 31, 2008, and thus the end to April 30 2011. It also annulled results obtained by the athletes since April or May 2007.

In a statement, the IAAF said: “It was unacceptable to the IAAF that these athletes who had committed serious and deliberate breaches of our anti-doping Rules would receive an effective ban of approximately 9-10 months and see them eligible to compete again in the summer of 2009.

"The IAAF is pleased to note that the starting date of the sanctions has been amended and also the length of sanction increased over and above the minimum two years.

"It should provide a strong warning to any athletes who are considering doping that their samples will be stored and may be later re-analysed, meaning they are never safe from the detection of their cheating against their fellow athletes."

Keywords · doping · Court of Arbitration for Sport · London 2012 · Cherkasova · IAAF · International Athletics Federation · Soboleva · Yegorova · Fomenko · Tomashova · Pishchalnikova · Khanafeyeva

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