Former 800m world champion Arzamasova gets four-year doping ban

[December 05, 2020]    (Reuters) - Former 800 metres world champion Marina Arzamasova of Belarus has been banned for four years for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday.

Marina Arzamasova of Belarus holds her national flag after winning the women's 800 metres final at the 15th IAAF Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China August 29, 2015. REUTERS/David Gray

Arzamasova, who won gold at the 2015 worlds, was tested out of competition in 2019 and a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratory reported an adverse finding after discovering the presence of an anabolic agent on the Prohibited List.

Arzamasova, 32, was provisionally suspended in August last year and after her B sample also returned a positive test she told the AIU that her supplements had been contaminated.

"The Disciplinary Panel... imposes a period of ineligibility of four years upon the athlete for the ADRV, commencing on 29 July 2019 and concluding at midnight on 28 July 2023," the AIU said in its decision.

The panel said Arzamasova had "failed to establish that her ADRV was not intentional", adding that she will have the right to appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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