IOC sanctions Russian Olympians including silver medalist Abakumova

Maria Abakumova must return the silver medal she won in Beijing eight years ago after testing positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.

Russian Maria Abakumova was on Tuesday stripped of the javelin silver medal she won at the 2008 Olympic Games after re-analysis of samples taken in Beijing tested positive for drugs.

Women’s javelin throw victor Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic (C) celebrates with second classified Maria Abakumova of Russian Federation and third classified Christina Obergfoll of Germany after the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 21, 2008.

Abakumova’s doping sample was among those to be re-analysed following an intelligence-gathering process by the International Olympic Committee that started in 2015 and it tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The entire Russian relay team have been disqualified as a result of Alexeev’s doping, meaning the British squad of Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney will move up from fourth place. Gnidenko also tested positive for turinabol.

The IOC says distance runner Inga Abitova, who placed sixth in the women’s 10,000, also tested positive.