Dope bans for Russian athletes

Updated 15.04 Thu Jul 31 2008

Keywords: olga yegorova, gulfiya khanafeyeva, darya pishchalnikova, svetlana cherkasova, yulia fomenko, tatyana tomashova, yelena soboleva, athletics, beijing olympics, olympic games, olympics, sport

Five Russian athletes due to compete at the Olympics have been given provisional suspensions for doping offences.

The IAAF has announced a total of seven Russian athletes will be punished for the fraudulent substitution of urine for dope tests.

Seven Russian athletes will be punished for the fraudulent substitution of urine for dope tests

Distance runners Yelena Soboleva, Tatyana Tomashova and Yulia Fomenko have all received provisional bans along with discus-thrower Darya Pishchalnikova and hammer-thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva.

They have 14 days to request a hearing, which must be held within two months, but that would be too late to compete in the Games in Beijing.

Svetlana Cherkasova, who runs the 800 metres, and Olga Yegorova, who competes over 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres, have also been given provisional bans.

But neither Cherkasova or Yegorova was due to compete at the Olympics.