Russian Olympic bobsledder banned for whereabouts violation

[July 12, 2017]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Olympic bobsledder Nadezhda Paleeva has been banned for two years for a violation of anti-doping whereabouts rules, Russia's national anti-doping agency RUSADA said.

The announcement comes as Russia is stepping up efforts to rehabilitate RUSADA, which was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2015 over evidence of state-sponsored doping and systematic violations to anti-doping regulations.

Paleeva, who finished 16th in the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, had not provided sufficient information about her whereabouts to be reached by anti-doping control officers, according to the president of Russia's bobsleigh federation, two-time Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zubkov.

"She did not cooperate with anti-doping organizations and did not provide the necessary information about herself in the ADAMS system," TASS news agency quoted Zubkov as saying on Wednesday, referring to a database system used to monitor the testing of athletes.

Zubkov added that Paleeva had received several warnings ahead of the ban.

In its statement late on Tuesday, RUSADA also said a four-year ban had been imposed against bobsledder Dmitry Piskunov, who placed 13th in the four-man bobsleigh at the Europe Cup in January, for failing to turn up for doping tests.

Russia last year was stripped of hosting the 2017 bobsleigh and skeleton world championships amid calls for a boycott in protest at doping in Russian sport.WADA last month allowed RUSADA to plan and coordinate testing under the supervision of international experts but has stressed that much remains to be done for the agency to retrieve its accreditation.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Alison Williams)

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