Ms Antonina Krivoshapka is a Russian Athlete competing in the Women’s 400m 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 July 2016 the International Olympic Committee reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete after her 2012 A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).
After notification the Athlete submitted that she did not accept the test results, she filed a statement in her defence and was heard for the IOC Disciplinary Commission.
The Athlete disputed the filing of the McLaren Report, Part 2; she challenged the validity of the testing method; she contended that the presence of a Prohibited Substance in her bodily sample may be a result of a contaminated product unintentionally ingested; and she requested the appointment of independent expert.
The Disciplinary Commission finds that the content of the McLaren Report has been publicly issued and is available to anybody. It is therefore part of common knowledge and its acceptance or exclusion from the file could not change that. The report was indeed not related to the Athlete and, as such, could not permit to draw a conclusion in her respect.
Regarding the validity of the testing method the Disciplinary Commission observes that the Athlete filed the opinion of an expert witness Dr Kopylov which was also filed and heard in 3 other cases.
The Commission notes that according to the McLaren Report, Part 2, turinabol appears to have been widely used in Russia in this period can only bring additional comfort in holding that the analysis through the challenged method did effectively properly identified this substance.
The Commission concludes that the arguments put forward by Dr Kopylov are meritless. The scientific validity of the analytical method used by the Laboratory is beyond question and the application to appoint an independent expert is rejected.
The Disciplinary Commission notes that athletes have long been warned against the use of supplements. As such, the fact that turinabol may have been ingested as part of a supplement is not likely to constitute an element exonerating the Athlete from having been at fault for using a Prohibited Substance. In this respect, the Disciplinary Commission observes that supplements do not, as a rule, contain turinabol and that accidental contamination of a legitimate supplement by this substance appears to be very unlikely.
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 substances specifically ingested to deliberately improve performance. The fact that the metabolites of a doping substance, which is a traditional doping substance, was found, supports this consideration.
The Disciplinary Commission, which has now handled multiple cases arising out of the reanalysis of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, observes that the presence of metabolites of this particular substance has been established in a remarkably high number of cases, which resulted from the re-analysis of the samples collected in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. This constitutes an indication that said substance has been in widespread use by athletes, who were doping at that time.
Therefore the IOC Disciplinary Commission decides on 27 January 2017 that the Athlete, Antonina Krivoshapka:
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 a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2.) is disqualified from the events in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games London 2012, namely, the Women’s 400m event and the Women’s 4x400m relay event, and
3.) has the silver medal, the medallist pin and the diplomas obtained in the Women’s 400m event and in the Women’s 4x400m relay event withdrawn and is ordered to return same.
4.) The Russian Federation Team is disqualified from the Women’s 4x400m relay event. The corresponding medals, medallist pins and 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 Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
7.) The Russian Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the diploma awarded to the Athlete in connection with the Women’s 400m event and the silver medals, medallist pins and diplomas awarded to the members of the Russian Federation Team who participated in the Women’s 4x400m relay event.
8.) This decision enters into force immediately.
