IAAF demand increase in suspensions for Russian seven

The IAAF have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the suspensions handed down by the All Russian Athletic Federation to seven athletes.

Olga Yegorova, Yelena Soboleva, Yulia Fomenko, Tatyana Tomashova, Svetlana Cherkasova, Darya Pishchalnikova and Gulfiya Khanafeyeva were last month charged by ARAF with fraudulent substitution of urine samples which breached doping control procedures.

The seven women were provisionally banned by the IAAF in July, just prior to the Olympic Games.

ARAF subsequently issued the seven with two-year suspensions which, as they had not competed since investigations began over a year ago, meant they would be able to return to competition as early as next summer.

The ruling was subject to IAAF approval, and world athletics’ governing body today emphatically rejected ARAF’s decision.

In a statement, the IAAF outlined their grounds for appeal, stating that “the date of any applicable sanction cannot begin earlier than the day the athlete was first provisionally suspended from competition”.

The statement added: “The IAAF has appealed that in each case the period of ineligibility be lengthened to more than the minimum two-year sanction under IAAF Rules if the athletes are found guilty of the doping offences.”

IAAF President Lamine Diack said: “It is unacceptable to the IAAF that these athletes, who have committed serious and deliberate breaches of our anti-doping rules, would receive an effective ban of approximately nine to 10 months and see them eligible to compete again in the summer of 2009.

“What is more, I consider the circumstances surrounding these cases warrants the IAAF to seek an extended ban over and above the minimum two-year period.”