Russian Olympic champions Antyukh and Silnov banned for doping

LAUSANNE: Russian Olympic champions Natalya Antyukh and Andrey Silnov have each been banned for four years for doping after being named in the 2016 McLaren report, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Wednesday.

Antyukh and Silnov were both charged last year with anti-doping violations stemming from the report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that alleged a system of state-sponsored doping had existed in Russia.

Silnov, 36, won the high jump title at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Antyukh, 39, was the gold medallist in the women’s 400 metre hurdles at the 2012 London Games. She also won bronze in the 400m and a silver medal in the 4x400m relay in Athens in 2004.

Both athletes will retain those medals because CAS ruled that only their results from 2013 onwards will be annulled.

Silnov has not competed since 2016 but was vice-president of the Russian athletics federation until 2019, when he stood down.

Sport’s top court also punished two other Russian athletes named in the McLaren report, middle distance runner Yelena Soboleva and hammer thrower Oksana Kondratyeva.