Abeylegesse loses 2 Olympic medals, Bulut faces ban

Turkish runner Elvan Abeylegesse has been banned for doping and stands to lose two Olympic silver medals. The IAAF says Abeylegesse tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol in a retest of a sample she gave at the 2007 world championships. She has been banned for two years and had her results wiped out from 2007-09.

Abeylegesse won Olympic silver medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the 2008 Beijing Games and silver in the 10,000 at the 2007 world championships. The IAAF also said it had imposed a four-year ban on another Turkish runner, Gamze Bulut, for a violation of its biological passport program. Bulut won silver in the 1,500 at the 2012 London Olympics.

In 2015, Turkish sports experienced the greatest shock when Aslı Çakır Alptekin, who was the first and only Olympic champion athlete in Turkish sporting history, was banned from sport for eight years after a long arbitration procedure between the IAAF and the CAS. She was asked for defense over the use of prohibited substances. With Aslı Çakır Alptekin, a total of 46 Turkish national runners were included in the list of banned athletes that was published by the IAAF in 2014. Turkish officials do not tolerate doping offences and accordingly Turkey's Sports General Directory has announced that the 2,575 Cumhuriyet gold that was given as a prize to Alptekin will be retaken as soon as the IAAF's report is delivered. The gold was worth $612.000.