Ms. Sviatlana Usovich is a Belarussian Athlete competing in the Women’s 800m athletics event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In 2016, the IOC decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2008 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2008.
In May 2016 the International Olympic Committee reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after her 2008 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).
After notification the Athlete submitted that she did not challenge the test results and she waived her right to be heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
The Commission finds that the Athlete did not challenge the test results and concludes that the Athlete has committed an anti-doping rule violation consistent with the intentional use of a prohibited substance specifically ingested to deliberately improve performance. The fact that the metabolites of a doping substance, which is a “classical” doping substance, was found, supports this consideration.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 22 November 2016 that the Athlete, Sviatlana Usovich:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008,
2.) is disqualified from all the events in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the Women’s 800m event and the Women’s 4x400m relay event, and
3.) has diploma obtained in the Women’s 4x400m relay event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.
4.) The Belarus Team is disqualified from the Women’s 4x400m relay. The corresponding diplomas are withdrawn and shall be returned.
5.) The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
6.) The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
7.) The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the diplomas awarded in connection with the Women’s 4x400m relay event to the Athlete and to the other team members of the Women’s 4x400m Belarus team.
8.) This decision enters into force immediately.
