MOSCOW: Ekaterina Poistogova-Guliyev looks set to lose her silver medal from the 800 metres at the London Olympics after being banned for four years for historic doping by the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF).

The 33-year-old, who competed for Russia before switching allegiance to Turkey, had all of her results from July 2012 to Oct. 2014 voided after being found guilty of the use or attempted use of banned substances, RusAF said in a statement.

The punishment was for infractions in 2012 and 2013 and based on data from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, the statement added.

Competing as Ekaterina Poistogova, she finished third in the 2012 Olympic final on Aug 12 but was upgraded to second when Russian winner Mariya Savinova was found guilty of doping offences.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended that Poistogova-Guliyev be banned for life and have her London medal stripped in 2015 as the result of their investigations into state-sponsored systematic doping in Russian athletics.

Poistogova-Guliyev was eventually banned for two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2017 but her results were voided only back to October 2015, allowing her to keep her Olympic medal.

The final decision on the stripping and reallocation of medals rests with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who were not immediately available to comment.

If Poistogova-Guliyev is stripped of her medal, Kenyan Pamela Jelimo would be awarded the silver with American Alysia Montano taking the bronze.

The women’s middle distance events at the London Olympics were heavily tainted by doping with three runners in the 800m final since having their results voided — Savinova, Poistogova-Guliyev and sixth-placed Russian Elena Arzhakova.

Five of the 13 runners in the 1,500m final were also subsequently banned for doping offences.

Poistogova-Guliyev has been banned only until 2026 because allowance was given for the two-year ban she served after the CAS decision, RusAF said.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2024