9 Mar 2013

Ostapchuk again cited with other former champions for doping

9:49 am on 9 March 2013

The Belarussian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk has again failed a doping test in a competition against New Zealand double Olympic gold medallist Valerie Adams.

Ostapchuk is one of six athletes named by the sport's governing body for failing re-testing of samples taken at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki.

She's one of four Belarusian athletes named, the others are former Olympic and three-times world hammer champion Ivan Tsikhan, Andrei Mikhnevich and Vadim Devyatovskiy.

Two Russians, Tatyana Kotova and Olga Kuzenkova, are the other named athletes.

All are now subject to the disciplinary procedures of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

IAAF deputy general, Nick Davis, says the athletes face a minimum ban of two years, so Ostapchuk is in line for another suspension.

She's completed her ban for the doping in London last year, where she was stripped of her gold medal after testing positive for a banned steroid, handing the gold to Adams.

It's also now possible the Aucklander will be promoted to silver for those 2005 world championships, behind another Russian, Olga Ryabinkina, who could be moved up to gold.

The IAAF says two other athletes, Vladislav Piskunov of Ukraine, who finished 12th in the men's hammer in Helsinki and Neelam Jaswant Singh of India who was ninth in Group A of the women's discus qualification, have already been sanctioned.