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What about Track & Field / Seven Russian track stars suspended
« on: July 31, 2008, 07:19:33 PM »
More proof that a drug free circuit and a drug circuit in Track and Field may something of the future. Repeat offenders here.
Seven Russian track stars suspended
Long-running, sophisticated doping investigation turns up drug cheats
By Alan Abrahamson, NBCOlympics.com
Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 6:04 AM ET
BEIJING -- Eight days before the start of the 2008 Summer Games, an apparently major doping scandal involving the Russian track and field team erupted Thursday, track and field's governing body provisionally suspending seven Russian athletes after a long-running, highly sophisticated and specifically targeted investigation.
Several of the athletes had been named to the Russian Olympic team. Among them: 25-year-old Yelena Soboleva, the world indoor record holder in the 1500 meters.
The International Assn. of Athletics Federation announced in a statement issued from its Monaco headquarters that the seven Russians had been accused of fraudulently substituting urine, the federation adding that its anti-doping officials deliberately stored and then re-tested samples using "comparative DNA techniques" -- the suggestion being that the samples contained shared DNA, an obvious impossibility.
Under IAAF rules, athletes have up to 14 days to request a hearing from their national federation. "These rule violations were established following the deliberate storage of samples by the IAAF and reanalysis 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 said in a statement.
Full details were not immediately available. The head of the Russian track and field federation, Valentin Balakhnichev, told the Agence France Press wire service that the IAAF action was prompted by what he called "the convergence of DNA in the samples that were given by the athletes for dope testing last year," adding, "This IAAF decision dashes our athletes' hopes to perform at Beijing."
Soboleva, who maintained she is innocent, said she has no choice to accept this ruling. "I have been informed about this today," she told the Russian newspaper Sport-Express. "I categorically do not accept the decision because there is absolutely no reason to consider us guilty. Naturally, I shall fight. However, because this is the national team and the Olympics, I am forced to obey this decision."
Soboleva later appeared on state-run television and remained indignant. "The accusations are curious," Soboleva said. "It's the first ever such case. I think it's a predestined action. The time was carefully chosen -- we practically could do nothing -- neither file an appeal nor look into the case. We are simply put aside and our hands are tied." The others named Thursday by the IAAF: 800m runner Svetlana Cherkasova; two more 1500m standouts, Yulia Fomenko and Tatyana Tomashova; hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva; discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova; and Olga Yegorova, who runs both the 1500m and 5000m.
Fomenko was second to Soboleva when she set the world record of 3 minutes, 57.71 seconds on March 9 in Valencia, Spain, breaking her previous mark of 3:58.05. Tomashova won world titles at the 2003 and '05 championships, and Yegorova won silver in the 1,500 at the 2005 Helsinki worlds and gold in 3,000 at the 2001 indoor worlds. Pishchalnikova won the silver medal in the discus at the 2007 worlds and gold at the 2006 European championships, and Khanafeyeva won silver in the hammer throw at the 2006 Europeans and was the 2008 world leader in the event.
Both Yegorova and Khanafeyeva have been embroiled in doping scandals before. Yegorova tested positive for EPO in 2001, but the result was thrown out because the French lab conducting the test did not follow the proper procedure. Khanafeyeva tested positive for an unspecified stimulant at the World Military Games in India in 2007, but the case was later dismissed.
Russian officials were displeased with the timing of the track body's announcement. "The IAAF could do nothing better ahead of the games in Beijing," Balakhnichev said. "It's not a civilized approach."
"This is all about the clear favorites," Russian Olympic Committee anti-doping chief Nikolay Durmanov added. "There are many questions. The first is: What in fact happened? There will be a special inquiry. A less important question but a more pertinent one is: Why is the issue of last year's tests emerging just a week ahead of the games? Couldn't this question have been discussed with us in May, June or March?" IAAF spokesman Nick Davis said that the sport's governing body will go to whatever lengths necessary to keep track and field clean.
"This shows we are willing to do anything to stop doping," he said. "The IAAF is ready to take on an investigative approach on these issues if it needs to."
--The Associated Press Contributed to this report.
Seven Russian track stars suspended
Long-running, sophisticated doping investigation turns up drug cheats
By Alan Abrahamson, NBCOlympics.com
Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 6:04 AM ET
BEIJING -- Eight days before the start of the 2008 Summer Games, an apparently major doping scandal involving the Russian track and field team erupted Thursday, track and field's governing body provisionally suspending seven Russian athletes after a long-running, highly sophisticated and specifically targeted investigation.
Several of the athletes had been named to the Russian Olympic team. Among them: 25-year-old Yelena Soboleva, the world indoor record holder in the 1500 meters.
The International Assn. of Athletics Federation announced in a statement issued from its Monaco headquarters that the seven Russians had been accused of fraudulently substituting urine, the federation adding that its anti-doping officials deliberately stored and then re-tested samples using "comparative DNA techniques" -- the suggestion being that the samples contained shared DNA, an obvious impossibility.
Under IAAF rules, athletes have up to 14 days to request a hearing from their national federation. "These rule violations were established following the deliberate storage of samples by the IAAF and reanalysis 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 said in a statement.
Full details were not immediately available. The head of the Russian track and field federation, Valentin Balakhnichev, told the Agence France Press wire service that the IAAF action was prompted by what he called "the convergence of DNA in the samples that were given by the athletes for dope testing last year," adding, "This IAAF decision dashes our athletes' hopes to perform at Beijing."
Soboleva, who maintained she is innocent, said she has no choice to accept this ruling. "I have been informed about this today," she told the Russian newspaper Sport-Express. "I categorically do not accept the decision because there is absolutely no reason to consider us guilty. Naturally, I shall fight. However, because this is the national team and the Olympics, I am forced to obey this decision."
Soboleva later appeared on state-run television and remained indignant. "The accusations are curious," Soboleva said. "It's the first ever such case. I think it's a predestined action. The time was carefully chosen -- we practically could do nothing -- neither file an appeal nor look into the case. We are simply put aside and our hands are tied." The others named Thursday by the IAAF: 800m runner Svetlana Cherkasova; two more 1500m standouts, Yulia Fomenko and Tatyana Tomashova; hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva; discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova; and Olga Yegorova, who runs both the 1500m and 5000m.
Fomenko was second to Soboleva when she set the world record of 3 minutes, 57.71 seconds on March 9 in Valencia, Spain, breaking her previous mark of 3:58.05. Tomashova won world titles at the 2003 and '05 championships, and Yegorova won silver in the 1,500 at the 2005 Helsinki worlds and gold in 3,000 at the 2001 indoor worlds. Pishchalnikova won the silver medal in the discus at the 2007 worlds and gold at the 2006 European championships, and Khanafeyeva won silver in the hammer throw at the 2006 Europeans and was the 2008 world leader in the event.
Both Yegorova and Khanafeyeva have been embroiled in doping scandals before. Yegorova tested positive for EPO in 2001, but the result was thrown out because the French lab conducting the test did not follow the proper procedure. Khanafeyeva tested positive for an unspecified stimulant at the World Military Games in India in 2007, but the case was later dismissed.
Russian officials were displeased with the timing of the track body's announcement. "The IAAF could do nothing better ahead of the games in Beijing," Balakhnichev said. "It's not a civilized approach."
"This is all about the clear favorites," Russian Olympic Committee anti-doping chief Nikolay Durmanov added. "There are many questions. The first is: What in fact happened? There will be a special inquiry. A less important question but a more pertinent one is: Why is the issue of last year's tests emerging just a week ahead of the games? Couldn't this question have been discussed with us in May, June or March?" IAAF spokesman Nick Davis said that the sport's governing body will go to whatever lengths necessary to keep track and field clean.
"This shows we are willing to do anything to stop doping," he said. "The IAAF is ready to take on an investigative approach on these issues if it needs to."
--The Associated Press Contributed to this report.