From Inside the Games
Russian 800 metres runner Mariya Savinova has been stripped of her London 2012 Olympic gold medal and banned for four years for doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The 31-year-old will also lose the 800m title she won at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, as well as her European crown from the previous year, after the CAS said she was “found to have been engaged in using doping” from July 26, 2010 until August 19, 2013.
Caster Semenya of South Africa is line to be upgraded to 800m gold at both London 2012 and the 2011 World Championships in the South Korean city.
Semenya, who won the event at the Rio 2016 Olympics after being cleared to compete in 2010 following a gender test row, is set to be crowned as a double Olympic and world champion.
Savinova’s team-mate Ekaterina Poistogova was third in the 800m final in London but is also under investigation for doping.
Pamela Jelima of Kenya could inherit Olympic bronze if she is retrospectively disqualified, with Alysia Montano of the United States set to be pushed up to third.
Another Kenyan, Janeth Jepkosgei, could be upgraded to World Championship silver, with Montano the new recipient of the bronze medal from the event six years ago.
Yvonne Hak of The Netherlands will replace Savinova as 2010 European champion and Britain’s Jenny Meadows will be elevated to silver.
Savinova’s ban has been backdated until August 2015 and she will be unable to return to competition until August 2019 at the earliest.
She will be able to appeal within the next 45 days, however, and the case is not definitively closed because it is a first instance CAS decision, due to the current suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF).
It was brought by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) against the athlete based upon her biological passport, which CAS was deciding upon.
