Athletics: Russian race walker to be stripped of medals over doping

[March 22, 2019]    MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian race walker Aleksandr Ivanov has been disqualified for three years for doping and is set to be stripped of his gold medal at the 2013 world championships in Moscow, the Russian athletics federation said on Friday.

Gold medallist Aleksandr Ivanov of Russia poses during the award ceremony for the men's 20 km race walk final during the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow August 11, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Ivanov will lose all the medals he won between June 2012 and August 2014, the federation said. He is disqualified for a three-year period that began on May 2, 2017, the date of his earlier suspension, it said.

Ivanov, whose blood contained abnormalities, according to the federation -- won gold in the 20km race walk at the IAAF World Championships in 2013, beating China's Ding Cheng and Spain's Miguel Angel Lopez.

Russia's athletics federation has been suspended since a 2015 report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found evidence of state-sponsored doping in the sport.

The IAAF global athletics ruling body has still authorized some Russians, including 2015 world champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, to compete as neutrals after having demonstrated they are competing in a doping-free environment.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Christian Radnedge)

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