CAS confirm 2 Russians to be stripped of 2008 Olympic medals

FiLE – In this file photo dated Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009, Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva in action on her way to winning the silver medal in the Women’s long jump at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed on Thursday July 26, 2018, the IOC decision to disqualify Tatyana Lebedeva along with fellow Russian athlete Maria Abakumova, losing their appeals to CAS for doping offenses at the 2008 Olympic Games.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, FILE)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Russian athletes Tatyana Lebedeva and Maria Abakumova lost their appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday and were stripped of three silver medals for doping at the 2008 Olympic Games.

CAS confirmed the IOC decisions in 2016 to disqualify the pair plus compatriot Ekaterina Gnidenko.

The banned anabolic steroid turinabol was discovered in retests of all three women’s Olympic anti-doping samples.

Lebedeva won 2008 Beijing Olympic silver medals in the long jump and triple jump.

Abakumova won the silver in javelin at the 2008 Games.

Gnidenko was eighth in Keirin track cycling at the 2012 London Olympics.

At their appeal hearings in May in Lausanne, all three failed to prove the anti-doping test methods were not scientifically valid, CAS said in a statement.

If medals are reallocated, Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan could win a third Olympic triple jump medal.

Rypakova stands to be upgraded from fourth to silver in 2008. She also won gold in 2012 and bronze in 2016.

Because Lebedeva was disqualified along with 2008 bronze medalist Chrysopigi Devetzi of Greece for doping, Yargelis Savigne of Cuba could move up from fifth to bronze.

In the women’s long jump, Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria may be upgraded from bronze to silver, and Chelsea Hammond of Jamaica improved from fourth to bronze.

In the 2008 javelin, Christina Obergfoll of Germany may be upgraded from bronze to silver, and Goldie Sayers of Britain from fourth to bronze.