Olympic 1500 Meter Champion Alptekin Stripped of 2012 Medal

The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ratified a settlement agreement that will keep Turkish athlete Asli Cakir Alptekin out of any sport competition for eight years because of her doping offences.

Although Cakir was cleared of doping violations by the Turkish Athletics Federation in December 2013, the worldwide Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) disagreed with the ruling and referred the case to CAS.

Cas says the IAAF charge that Alptekin manipulated her blood between 29 July 2010 and 17 October 2012 “is upheld by default”.

Alptekin’s ban was confirmed on the same day as the All-Russian Athletics Federation announced that any of the country’s athletes suspected of doping would be barred from competing at the World Championships.

Alptekin forfeited all her results from July 29, 2010, including the 2012 Olympic gold medal and her 2012 European Championship title.

Farah’s challenge at this year’s World Championship get under way on Saturday in the men’s 10,000 metres at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.

Last week the IAAF said it was suspending 28 athletes as a result of suspicious findings in doping tests.

She has not raced competitively since provisionally being suspended by the IAAF in January 2013.

The Olympic gold could now be awarded to Alptekin’s teammate, Gamze Bulut, who finished second.

She is one of several Russian medallists banned for doping since London 2012, although so far only a silver won by the discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova has been reallocated. She previously served a two-year and nine month ban for doping from 2007 to 2011.

Expert independent witnesses said her explanations were “unsubstantiated and/or scientifically unsound…”