Related cases:
- CAS 2018_O_5704 IAAF vs RusAF & Vera Ganeeva
January 31, 2019 - World Athletics 2022 WA vs Vera Ganeyeva (Karmishina)
May 25, 2023
Ms Vera Ganeeva is a Russian Athlete competing in the Women’s discus throw athletics event at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
In 2016, the IOC decided to perform further analyses on certain samples collected during the 2012 Olympic Games. These additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2012.
In May 2016 the International Olympic Committee reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after her 2012 sample tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).
After notification the Athlete filed a statement in her defence and she was heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
The Athlete denied having used performance enhancing substances. As an explanation for the presence of the Prohibited Substance, she raises the hypothesis that the substances may have been contained in medication or food supplements bought in Ukraine by her coach/husband at that time. She also suspects that somebody would have contaminated her food during her preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The Disciplinary Commission notes that the Athlete does not bring forth any concrete evidence to support her submissions. Furthermore, the fact that the substance in question may have been contained in food supplements would not exonerate the Athlete from having used it.
With the positive test results the Commission 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.
The Disciplinary Commission further observes that the substance found in the Athlete’s sample is the same as the one detected in the overwhelming majority of cases of anti-doping violations, which were established in the course of the re-analysis process. The fact that turinabol has been effectively and widely used as a doping substance, notably in Russia, is further corroborated by the McLaren Report, Part 2, which expressly mentions turinabol as the doping substance of choice in the period up to the 2012 Olympic Games.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 27 January 2017 that the Athlete, Vera Ganeeva:
1.) is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012 (presence, and/or use, of Prohibited Substances or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from the event in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games London 2012, namely the Women’s discus throw event.
3.) The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
4.) The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
5.) This decision enters into force immediately.
