EN
European Athletics has welcomed the information received from Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that the seven Russian athletes charged with urine substitution prior to the Beijing Olympic Games have been suspended for a period of 2 years and 9 months, and have had all their results from the date
European Athletics welcomes CAS confirmation on suspension of Russian athletes – European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS
European Athletics has welcomed the information received from Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that the seven Russian athletes charged with urine substitution prior to the Beijing Olympic Games have been suspended for a period of 2 years and 9 months, and have had all their results from the date of the infraction annulled.
The IAAF had appealed against the original decision by the All Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) to the CAS, which effectively would have meant the athletes receiving a ban of approximately 9-10 months and being eligible to compete again in the summer of 2009.
The IAAF had pledged that the sanctions against the athletes who had committed serious and deliberate breaches of its Anti-Doping Rules should be extended to up to four years.
The CAS has upheld IAAF's appeal partially and the starting date of the sanctions has been amended and also the length of sanction increased over and above the minimum 2 years.
European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz said, "We at European Athletics welcome this decision from the CAS and stand firmly behind the IAAF in line with our policy of zero-tolerance for doping cheats. This is a boost to our endeavour to make our sport free from doping.
"The decision endorses the IAAF's action in targeting, investigating, and prosecuting doping cases even with non-traditional methods – in this case the storage of samples and DNA comparison," said President Wirz.
"This should serve as a stern warning to any such athletes that they are never safe from being detected of cheating against their fellow athletes," said President Wirz.
European Athletics also supports the efforts of the IAAF in target testing with blood screenings at all its major competitions, with IAAF receiving all blood values of athletes and using them for profiling purposes.
The details of the sanctions are as follows:
Olga Yegorova: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 07.04.07
Svetlana Cherkasova: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 26.04.07
Yuliya Fomenko: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 27.04.07
Gulfiya Khanafeyeva: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 09.05.07
Tatyana Tomashova: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 23.05.07
Yelena Soboleva: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 26.04.07
Darya Pishchalnikova: 31.07.08 – 30.04.11, annulment of results achieved since 10.04.07
European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS
