Former Olympics 800m gold medalists Pamela Jelimo, will automatically qualify to receive the bronze medal after the Court of Arbitration upheld the disqualification of Russian winner Mariya Farnisova’s unsuccessful appeal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last year ruled that Farnisova – then using her maiden surname Savinova – be stripped of her gold medals from the London 2012 Olympic Games and 2011 World Championships after she was found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Farnisova appealed the decision that disqualified all her competitive results from July 26, 2010 to August 26, 2013 and included a four-year ban from the sport.
A statement by the Athletics Integrity Unit has confirmed that CAS has dismissed the appeal and upheld the disqualifications.
She will be banned for four years from August 24, 2015 and will also lose her European title from 2010.
Jelimo finished fourth at the London 2012 summer Olympics games and would now climb to third place after the suspension of Russian.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya would now be officially confirmed as a double Olympic and triple world 800 metres champion after Russian rival Mariya Farnisova’s disqualification was upheld following an unsuccessful appeal.
South Africa’s Semenya was the runner-up at both the 2011 World Championships and London 2012 and is in line to be upgraded.
She should become the first woman to win two Olympic 800m titles.
Yvonne Hak of The Netherlands should receive the 2010 European title.
“The athlete has distorted multiple high-level competitions, damaged numerous other athletes and has breached the applicable rules on many occasions using multiple different substances and did so in full knowledge of the circumstances,” CAS said in its initial ruling regarding Farnisova.
“The overall integrity of athletics has suffered heavily from the athlete’s behaviour.
“Such behaviour, thus, warrants a serious sanction.”
Farnisova was not caught in Olympic re-testing.
In December 2014, she was filmed talking about using steroids to whistle blower Yuliya Stepanova in the German television documentary that exposed Russian doping and led to them being suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Farnisova’s blood samples in her athlete biological passport were re-analysed and she was stripped of results for three years.
Another Russian in Ekaterina Poistogova finished third in the London 2012 Olympic 800m final behind Farnisova and Semenya.
She was also banned for two years for doping from August 2015, when she was initially suspended, and lost all results from October 21, 2014.
Her 2012 results were not affected, however, meaning she keeps her Olympic medal.
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