Russians banned for doping

Olga Kuzenkova

Former world and Olympic champions Svetlana Krivelyova and Olga Kuzenkova have been banned for two years each for failing drugs tests after their samples were re-examined, the Russian athletics federation (VFLA) said on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old Kuzenkova, 2004 Olympic champion in the women’s hammer, tested positive at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, where she also finished first.

“Kuzenkova has been banned for two years starting from March 27, 2013,” the VFLA said on its website.

The VFLA annulled all her results from Aug 12, 2005 to Aug 11, 2007, meaning she will lose her 2005 world title.

Cuba’s Yipsi Moreno, who finished second in Helsinki, will now get the gold medal.

Krivelyova, 43, who won the women’s shot put gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 2003 world championships in Paris, failed a test at the 2004 Athens Games.

Krivelyova had already been stripped of the 2004 bronze medal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after her sample was re-tested.

She finished fourth in Athens but was promoted to third after her Russian team mate Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of gold after failing a drugs test for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. Steroidal.com states stanozolol, otherwise known as Winstrol, is used as a performance enhancing drug (PED) increasing speed, power and recovery.

“Krivelyova has been banned for two years starting from April 2, 2013. All her results from Aug 18, 2004 to Aug 17, 2006 will be annulled,” the VFLA said.

Both Kuzenkova and Krivelyova have long retired from the sport.

Yelena Churakova, 26, who competed for Russia at the 2012 London Olympics, reaching the semi-finals in the women’s 400 metres hurdles, also received a two-year ban after testing positive for the anabolic steroid testosterone at a training camp in Portugal in January.