Russian Olympic Committee announces doping bans for four athletes

Russian authorities said on Monday they had banned four athletes including European silver medallist Irina Maracheva for doping offences.

Race walker Anna Lukyanova, a former silver medallist at the world junior championships, was banned for two years and joins a list of more than 30 doping cases in recent years linked to the Russian national walking centre in the city of Saransk.

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Russian Federation was suspended from world athletics in November following allegations of widespread and state-sponsored doping in a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Four Russian athletes have been banned for doping in the first suspensions announced since the drugs scandal which has seen the country banned from worldwide competition. Nikulina tested positive for the banned steroid turinabol at the Russian national college meet, the track federation said.

On Monday, the track federation also said a coach, Lyudmila Fedoriva, had been banned for four years over “falsification” with regards to doping tests, without specifying the exact nature of her offense.

The head of the inspection team said that Russia “recognised” it needs to show a “determination to effect real and lasting change in Russian athletics”, but the task ahead remains daunting.

Shlyakhtin admitted last week that Russia’s track and field squad only has a fifty-fifty chance of competing at the Olympic Games.