Shot-put world champion Valerie Adams is upset at her drug-taking Olympic rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk escaping a lifetime ban.
Gold medalist Valerie Adams with silver medalist Nadzeya Ostapchuk at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in South Korea. Photo: AFP
The Belarussian, who initially denied the New Zealander the gold medal at the London Games in 2012, was stripped of her Olympic title after returning a positive test for performance- enhancing drugs.
A subsequent test of a 2005 sample also recorded a positive test.
Ostapchuk is named on the latest list of banned athletes put out by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The four-year ban is retrospective and ends in August 2016 in the middle of the next Olympics, but effectively bars the 33-year-old from qualifying for Rio.
Adams has tweeted her disappointment, saying four years was not enough, and her manager Nick Cowan said they would consider an appeal.
Athletics New Zealand chairperson Annette Purvis said she is not comfortable with four-year ban for two doping breaches either.
