Alptekin stripped of London 2012 gold medal

Disgraced: Asli Cakir Alptekin of Turkey.

DPA/BerlinTurkish middle distance runner Asli Cakir Alptekin is to forfeit her 1,500 metres gold medal from the London 2012 Olympics after agreeing to an eight-year ban for doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said yesterday. CAS says it approved an agreement between Cakir Alptekin and athletics governing body IAAF. “Ms Cakir Alptekin is found to have committed a second anti-doping rule violation, after a first one committed in 2004, and shall serve a period of ineligibility of eight years, to expire at midnight on 9 January 2021,” CAS said in a statement. “Furthermore, all competitive results obtained by the athlete from 29 July 2010 onwards are disqualified, and all related titles, awards, medals, points and appearance money are forfeited. “This includes in particular the Olympic gold medal won in London in 2012 and the gold medal won at the European Championships in the same year.” Cakir Alptekin, now 29, had abnormal values found in blood samples collected July 2010-October 2012. The IAAF charged her with a doping violation in January 2013 but Cakir Alptekin was subsequently cleared by the Turkish Athletic Federation. IAAF then appealed to CAS but, before the case could be heard, the parties reached agreement. Cakir Alptekin won her Olympic gold in 2012 from compatriot Gamze Bulut, Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain and Russia’s Tatyana Tomashova. Tomashova, a 2004 Olympic silver medallist, was suspended for doping offences in 2008 as part of a group of Russian athletes who swapped their urine for clean samples. Russian dopers to miss worlds Russian athletes suspected of doping will be barred from competing at the world championships starting in Beijing next week, the All-Russian Athletics Federation said yesterday.  “No Russian athlete suspected of taking banned substances will take part in the upcoming world championships,” ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the secretary general of All-Russian Athletics Federation, Sergei Butov, as saying.  Recent accusations of mass doping worldwide made by German broadcaster ARD and Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper have plunged athletics into a new crisis marring the build-up to Beijing. “Our decision is not based on media reports, which allege different things,” Butov added. “We ... are basing the decision exclusively on the rules of the IAAF and on nothing else.” On Sunday, ARD reported that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had recently demanded explanations from Russian sporting authorities regarding athletes suspected of doping, including Olympic gold medallist Mariya Savinova. ARD also alleged that three Russian national team coaches and a team doctor could be facing life bans from the sport. Athletics federation caretaker chief Vadim Zelichenok said he has not received any IAAF explanation requests. “We haven’t got any IAAF official letters or inquiries on this subject,” Zelichenok said.