South Africa’s Caster Semenya should 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.
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 in 2010 to August 26 in 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 in 2015 and will also lose her European title from 2010.
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.”
Source:IAAF
