Five Russian athletes admit taking banned doping substances

Moscow, April 19: Russian runner Antonina Krivoshapka as well as four more national track and field athletes have admitted to consuming performance-enhancing drugs, the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) announced on Wednesday.

Over two months ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that doping re-tests of Krivoshapka from the 2012 London Olympics tested positive for a banned substance and ruled to strip her as well three of her teammates of the Olympic silver, which they won in the 4×400 meters relay, reports Tass news agency.

Besides Krivoshapka, who is serving a two-year suspension term starting from September 7, 2016, four more Russian track and field athletes publicly confessed on Wednesday of doping abuse. They are Yevgeniya Kolodko (stripped of 2012 silver in short put and suspended for period of July 2, 2016 – July 1, 2018), hammer thrower Anna Bulgakova (suspended March 2019, 2017 – March 28, 2019), discus thrower Vera Ganeeva (suspended July 2, 2016 – July 1, 2018) and pole vaulter Dmitry Starodubtsev (suspended July 2, 2016- July 1, 2018).

After samples from the 2012 Olympic Games were retested, the Russian national team has been stripped of seven medals (four in track and field events). Apart from the women's 4×100 meters relay medallists, left without medals were also Yulia Zaripova (steeplechase gold), Yevgeniya Kolodko (silver in shot put) and Tatyana Lysenko (gold in hammer throw).

The IOC Executive Board convened a special session last year on May 17 discussing efforts of stepping up the fight against the drugs cheats and furnish measures to protect clean athletes ahead of the Olympics in Rio. As part of its anti-doping efforts, IOC ordered reanalysis of doping samples of athletes from 2008 Olympics in Beijing and 2012 Olympics in London.

Following two rounds of retesting, 98 Olympians were reported to test positive for banned substances – 60 from the 2008 Games and 38 from the 2012 Games. Among them were over 23 medallists from both Olympics. On the whole, a total of 1,243 doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 Games were subjected for retesting.

In particular, the IOC ruled after the series of doping retests to annul a total of 19 medals from Russian athletes, who took part in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Athletes, who won medals in relays or other team competitions, were also obliged to give up their medals in case a doping sample retest of their teammates tested positive for banned substances.