ITALY: OLYMPIC GAMES - Russian biathlon silver medallist Olga Pyleva has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics after failing a doping test

Record ID: 331965

  • Title: ITALY: OLYMPIC GAMES - Russian biathlon silver medallist Olga Pyleva has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics after failing a doping test
  • Date: 17th February 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(Italian) ITALY'S ANTI-DOPING COMMITTEE PRESIDENT GIOVANNI ZOTTA SAYING BEFORE POSITIVE CONFIRMATION: "We don't yet have a precise identification (of the substance). The moment when we have a statement that indicates positivity, we will proceed according to international and Italian rules. Indeed, the presence of the (Italian) Health Ministry guarantees that Italian rules will be followed, including any need to hand the the case to Italian justice. There will be perfect collaboration between the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and Italy"
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA28L8AZZIKK7CKUNHVC6N45FMN
  • Story Text: Russian biathlon silver medallist Olga Pyleva was thrown out of the Turin Winter Games on Thursday (February 16) after the International Olympic Committee (I)C) confirmed a positive doping test.
    Pyleva came second in the 15-km individual biathlon on Monday, but will now be stripped of her medal.
    "Doping cases are things that happen in Olympic Games. We have to tackle that and we are doing that with great energy," IOC President Jacques Rogge said after the test was deemed positive.
    Pyleva tested positive on Monday for carphedon, a prohibited stimulant.
    The IOC Disciplinary Commission ruled that the 30-year-old be disqualified from the event and was excluded from the Winter Games with immediate effect.
    The IOC has requested that the International Biathlon Union (IBU) modify the results of the event.
    The Russian Olympic Committee has also been ordered to return her medal.
    IBU President Anders Besseberg said after confirmation of the positive test: "Well I must say, positive doping case is never a pleasant thing for a sport to have and we in biathlon have had very few such situations so I must really say it it's a sad day, a negative day, because it's negative and we are having the positive test. But I must also say, on the other hand, I am very happy that we today are having systems which is taking out athletes who have been using forbidden stimulants."
    Pyleva now faces a two-year ban from the IBU, the minimum term demanded by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a drugs offence.
    The IBU is scheduling a hearing for Friday (February 17), pending the availability of the athlete.
    For sports competed on an individual basis, each athlete finishing in the top five, plus two selected at random, are tested by the IOC.
    So far, more than 400 tests have been performed out of the 1,200 tests that the IOC is expected to conduct throughout the period of the Feb. 10-26 Games.
    Pyleva could also face prosecution in Italy, although the Italian government has said no athlete would be jailed.
    Turin Olympics chief Mario Pescante said on Thursday before the test was confirmed: "The procedures will go ahead and whoever has done wrong will pay.
    "They will go first to the (IOC disciplinary) commission and then there will be the allegation and the reply to the allegations, this will be carried out according to laws that include Italian penal sanctions," said Pescante, who is Italian Culture Ministry Undersecretary with an Olympic brief.
    Italy's anti-doping committee president, Giovanni Zotta, also said before the official announcement that the IOC and Italy were waiting for a precise of the substance before acting.
    "The moment when we have the statement that indicates positivity we will proceed according to international and Italian rules," he said.
    "There will be perfect collaboration between the IOC and Italy."
    Nikolai Durmanov, head of anti-doping inspection with the Russian Olympic Commission, said Pyleva, who won silver in Monday's 15-km individual biathlon, had taken medicine for an injury, not knowing it contained the banned drug carphedon.
    Speaking before the official confirmation, Durmanov said: "The medicine is good and useful for medical purposes but for sports it is considered as doping. Pyleva's doctor has prescribed medicine which appears to be doping, not being aware that it was doping because she did not have proper information on it. But from the other side, the doctor should have been checking more precisely. So the athlete had taken medicine for an injury, not knowing it contained the banned drug doping. So this is the issue," said Durmanov.
    He added that the team was expecting tough sanctions.
    "It is a pity that one silly mistake spoils everything. But it is only the fifth day of the Olympics and we have more days ahead and I hope we get more medals, which will be the best answer to our difficulties," Durmanov said.
    The IOC is responsible for drugs testing during the Games while the WADA operates as an independent observer monitoring doping procedures, including sample collection and analysis.
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