Seven Russians suspended for doping offences
Tatyana Tomashova is one of the five athletes who will miss Beijing
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Thursday, 31, Jul 2008 03:41
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has provisionally suspended seven Russian athletes for doping offences.
Five of the athletes - Yelena Soboleva (800m/1500m), Tatyana Tomashova (1500m), Yulia Fomenko (800m/1500m), Darya Pishchalnikova (discus) and Gulfiya Khanafeyeva (hammer) - were due to compete at next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.
The other two athletes are Svetlana Cherkasova (800m) and Olga Yegorova (1500m/5000m) and all the suspensions have been acknowledged by the All Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF).
"The athletes have been charged under IAAF Rules 32.2 (b) and 32.2 (e) for a fraudulent substitution of urine which is both a prohibited method and also a form of tampering with the doping control process," the IAAF said in a statement.
"These rule violations were established following the deliberate storage of samples by the IAAF and re-analysis using comparative DNA techniques, and were the result of a specific investigation which was instigated and carried out by the IAAF for more than a year.
"The IAAF will make no further comment until a final decision has been taken by the ARAF, which now takes over the responsibility to adjudicate these cases."
The athletes in question will have up to 14 days to request a hearing into their case, which would be held within two months.
However, it looks highly unlikely any of the five who were due to travel to Beijing will be allowed to compete.