LITHUANIA: ATHLETICS - Marathon champion Zivile Balciunaite, who won the European title, will have to return her gold medal

Record ID: 561347

  • Title: LITHUANIA: ATHLETICS - Marathon champion Zivile Balciunaite, who won the European title, will have to return her gold medal
  • Date: 6th April 2011
  • Summary: PHOTOGRAPH OF ZIVILE BALCIUNAITE, CAPTION SAYS "ZIVILE BALCIUNAITE- EUROPEAN CHAMPION"
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lithuania, Lithuania
  • Country: Lithuania
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2MO0PXS31S5TMCXV8N63O2EO2
  • Story Text: European women's marathon champion Zivile Balciunaite has been banned for two years for doping, the Lithuania athletics federation said on Tuesday (April 5).
    Balciunaite, who won the European title in a season's best time of two hours 31 minutes 14 seconds last July, was the first Lithuanian athlete ever to take gold in the category.
    "Lithuanian athlete marathon runner Zivile Balciunaite has violated IAAF anti-doping rules' paragraph 32.2 "Presence of banned substances or their traces or markers in the test," Eimantas Skrabulis, the president of the Lithuanian athletics federation, told a news conference.
    The two-year ban takes effect from September last year.
    "Second, based on the IAAF rules, paragraph 40.2, Zivile Balciunaite has been disqualified for two years. Third, based on the IAAF rules, paragraph 40.8, she will have to return the European champion's medal," Skrabulis added.
    The federation said earlier that Balciunaite's urine test at the European championships in Barcelona last year found a deviation from the allowed ratio between the male sex hormone testosterone and epitestosterone.
    Both occur naturally in women but an increased level of testosterone can indicate it has been administered artificially.
    Balciunaite was not available for immediate comment but her representative said she planned to appeal against the ban at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.
    "We don't agree with the decision, because it was groundless. The laboratory tests were not reliable, there are many undeniable arguments, and we are going to appeal (the ban),"Aivaras Zilvinskas, a legal representative for Balciunaite, told reporters.
    Last year, the national federation provisionally suspended Balciunaite but in December said it had insufficient evidence to ban her and would investigate further.
    The Lithuanian athlete has denied taking banned drugs and said the test results could have been influenced by a drug she had been taking to relieve period pains just before the run.
    "Our aim was to find the right decision and we are sure that today we made a fair and objective decision," Skrabulis told reporters.
    Russian athlete Nailya Yulamanova, who won silver in Barcelona with a time of two hours 32 minutes 15 seconds, is likely to be awarded the champion's title.
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