London 2012 Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov is among 12 Russian track and field athletes to be handed doping bans by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
CAS was acting for the IAAF in the absence of the banned Russian Athletics Federation.
Ukhov and Svetlana Shkolina, who won high jump bronze in 2012 and gold at the 2013 world championships, were given four-year bans on Friday.
Their bans starts from February 1, 2019 and are retrospectively disqualified, meaning they will be stripped of their medals.
American Erik Kynard is expected to be promoted to gold in the 2012 Olympic men’s event, while compatriot Brigetta Barrett, who took silver in London, is in line to be promoted to world champion after finishing second in Moscow.
Double world champion and former world record holder hammer thrower Tatyana Lysenko was given an eight-year ban for a second offence, as was fellow hammer thrower Gulfiya Agafonova.
CAS said the 12 athletes “participated in and/or benefited from anabolic steroid doping programs and benefited from specific protective methods”.
The athletes can appeal their cases to a separate division of CAS, and Russian officials said they were awaiting CAS’s full decisions in the cases before deciding on any action.
“So far, the decision has been made by the first instance authority which, as far as I know, made it on the basis of (Russian whistle blower Grigory) Rodchenkov’s testimony. Now we need to wait for the substantive part (of the court’s decision), after which we will think what to do,” Russian athletics chief Dmitry Shlyakhtin told TASS news agency.
The decisions were the first case of CAS issuing disciplinary procedures since it replaced the RUSAF in hearing cases after its suspension by the IAAF which remains in force.
The cases are based mainly on evidence gathered in an independent World Anti-Doping Agency eport carried out by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren and the Athletics Integrity Unit.
The AIU was set up in 2017 to act independently from the IAAF.
“Today’s CAS rulings confirm that the evidence underlying the McLaren Reports is reliable and is capable of establishing Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs),” AIU head Brett Clothier said in a statement.
He also said CAS’s decision established that the violations were committed as part of a centralised doping scheme.
Clothier added: “It needs to be noted that some of these cases were fought solely on the basis of the McLaren evidence, while others were combined with analytical evidence gathered through re-testing.
“It is very encouraging for us and gives us the possibility to pursue more cases in the future.”
WADA also praised the decisions.
“This should serve to reassure athletes that a lot of work is being conducted behind the scenes by various organizations that are committed to ensure that justice is rendered,” WADA Director General Olivier Niggli said in a statement.
“It reinforces the importance of ensuring that due process is followed and that evidence is carefully presented.
“This creates an important precedent that will be used in future cases.”
The bans are the latest in a long line handed down to Russians across a range of sports since widespread and organised doping was uncovered.
Russian authorities have denied that it was “state-sponsored” but have accepted that many senior officials were involved in providing the illegal products.
It also accepted the officials might have been interfering with anti-doping procedures and covering up positive tests.
WADA last month finally gained access to data held in a Moscow laboratory, the last condition for making Russia’s anti-doping agency compliant.
The access is expected to produce more retrospective positive tests.
“The data is crucial to build strong cases against cheats and exonerate other athletes suspected of having participated in widespread doping in Russia,” Clothier said.
The banned athletes are:
Tatyana Firova (400m) – four-year ban from June 9, 2016.
Svetlana Shkolina (high jump) – four-year ban from February 1, 2019.
Ivan Ukhov (high jump) – four-year ban from February 1, 2019.
Lyukman Adams (triple jump) – four-year ban from Jan. 31 2019.
Anna Bulgakova (hammer throw) – four-year ban from March 29, 2017.
Gulfiya Agafonova-Khanafeeva (hammer throw) – eight-year ban from January 6, 2017.
Tatyana Lysenko Beloborodva (hammer throw) – eight-year ban from July 2, 2016.
Ivan Yushkov (shot put) – four-year ban from July 2, 2016.
Mariya Bespalova (hammer throw) – already suspended since October 26, 2015.
Vera Ganeeva (discus) – two-year ban from July 2, 2018.
Yekaterina Galitskaia (100m hurdles) – four-year ban from February 1, 2019.
Yuliya Kondakova (100m hurdles) – four-year ban from February 1, 2019.
Reuters/NAN.
Trending
- Queues: NNPC says cause of tightness in fuel supply resolved
- LG polls: Oyo declares Friday half working day
- Ondo 2024: Ajayi emerges PDP governorship candidate
- ‘Dey play,’ Nigerians mock prophet who claims world ends today
- Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Demolition for first 3km begins Saturday
- Court subpoenas Lagos prison controller over disobedience to order
- Ondo poll: You’ll be successful tomorrow, Ganduje tells Jimoh Ibrahim, others
- Court sets aside arrest warrant against Fubara’s Chief of Staff