R.usia won eight gold medals in athletics at the 2012 London Games and it was surpassed in the medal table only by its great rival, the United States, with only one more. A decade later, Russian athletics barely has one of those eight golds left, after a doping drain that seems to have no end.
The last to fall was Natalia Antyukh, gold in the 400 hurdles of the British eventwhich has been sanctioned by the Athletic Integrity Unit (AIU) for the consumption of an unspecified prohibited substance. The sanction is appealable.
It so happens that Antyukh had already been sanctioned earlier for his presence in the devastating McLaren report which revealed the existence of state doping in the Eurasian giant, and is currently serving a four-year fine that ends in 2025, although at 41, this is anecdotal, as he has been retired since 2017. In addition, all of his achievements from June 30, 2013 to December 31, 2015 were disqualified.
The new sanction implies it the results of the Russian hurdler between 15 July 2012 and 29 June 2013 They are no longer valid either, so she loses Olympic gold in London, as the women’s 400 hurdles final was played on 8 August. The gold will now go to the American Lashinda Demus.
Antyukh had already lost the silver of that appointment in the 4×400 due to the doping of his partner Antonina Krivoshapkawho had “hunted” with turinabol in the reanalysis of the final one in 2016.
For the Russian hurdler, yes, He still has an Olympic silver (4×400) and a bronze (400 meters) won in Athens in 2004 and up to four world medals, including gold in the Russian 4×400 in Helsinki 2005.
Antyukh’s gold is the seventh lost by Russian athletics in London 2012, after the subsequent doping disqualifications of Sergey Kirdyapkin (50 km walk), Ivan Uchov (height), Giulia Zaripova (3,000 obstacles), Elena Lashmanova (20 km walk), Maria Savinova (800 meters) e Tatyana Lysenko (hammer).
A spot of gold like a life preserver
To make matters worse, the only gold left to Russia is that of the high jumper Anna Chicherovawho already lost an Olympic bronze in Beijing 2008 in October 2016 due to the consumption of turinabol.
Russian athletics is currently suspended by World Athletics due to the state doping scandal that has shaken its foundations. Indeed, its athletes have not been able to participate even as neutral in the last major championshipsincluding the World Cup in Oregon and the European Championships in Munich.
