Russian stripped of London 2012 gold medal

London 2012 gold medallist, Mariya Savinova, has been stripped of her 800 metres title and banned until 2019 after being found guilty of doping.
She has had her results from July 2010 to August 2013 annulled, but has 45 days to appeal against the decision.
The Russian beat South Africa’s Caster Semenya into second at the London Olympics and the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The 31-year-old Savinova also beat Britain’s Jenny Meadows to bronze at the 2010 European Championships.
Both Semenya and Meadows could now have their medals upgraded.
Savinova has also lost her 800m silver from the 2013 World Championships and her four-year suspension will be backdated to 2015.
The case against Savinova was brought by the IAAF based upon her biological passport, which the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has used to make its decision.
“On the basis of clear evidence, including the evidence derived from her biological passport (ABP), Mariya Savinova is found to have been engaged in using doping from July 26, 2010, the eve of the European Championship in Barcelona, Spain.
“This was through to Aug. 19, 2013, the day after the World Championship in Moscow.
“As a consequence, a four-year period of ineligibility, beginning on Aug. 24 2015, has been imposed and all results achieved between July 26, 2010 and Aug. 19, 2013 are disqualified and any prizes, medals, prize and appearance money forfeited,’’ a CAS statement read.
Savinova was one of five Russian athletes named in a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report into doping.
She has not raced since 2013 after being suspended during an investigation sparked by the release of undercover footage filmed by whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova.
Should the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decide to reallocate the medals from the London 2012 final, Semenya would be awarded a second gold medal.
The South African had claimed the 800m title in Rio last summer.
Savinova is now the second Russian finalist from that race to have been retrospectively banned, after Yelena Arzhakova.
A third — bronze medallist Ekaterina Poistogova — is also under investigation for doping.