IAAF bans Abeylegesse for 2 years, revokes 2 Olympic medals over doping


The ruling athletics body IAAF banned Turkish long distance runner Elvan Abeylegesse for two years Wednesday and stripped her of her two Beijing 2008 Olympic medals because of doping.

Abeylegesse tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol in a retest of a sample she gave at the 2007 world championships.

The IAAF said her results have been wiped out from 2007-09.

She had won silver medals in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also won silver at the 2007 Osaka World Championships.

Another Turkish athlete, Gamze Bulut, who won silver in the 1,500 at the 2012 London Olympics was banned for four years and stripped of her medals in 2011 for violating a biological passport program. Turkish Athlete Songül Konak was also banned for four years.

The Abeylegesse scandal is the latest to hit Turkish athletics after London 2012 1,500 meters Olympic champion Aslı Çakır Alptekin was banned for eight years last year for blood doping and stripped of her title.

Turkish sprint hurdler Nevin Yanıt was banned for three years for doping in 2013 and returned to competition this month.