The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) has disqualified four athletes who tested positive for turinabol through the retesting of previous samples. Yelena Slesurenko (Елена Слесаренко), who won high jump gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics, was banned for four years from 4 October 2016, after ‘repeated athletes analysis of samples taken at the Beijing Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics in Daegu 2011, revealed the presence of Turinabol’. She was disqualified from the Beijing 2008 Olympics in November 2016, and her results from 23 August 2008 to 22 August 2012 have been annulled. This means that she will keep the silver medal she won at the 2008 IAAF World Indoors.

Yekaterina Volkova (Екатерина Волкова) has been disqualified for two years from 15 December 2016. Her Beijing 2008 steeplechase bronze was stripped by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after retests of her sample tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The other two athletes appear to have been sanctioned due to decisions yet to be published by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). ‘In accordance with the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 27.04.2018, the athlete Ksenia Agafonova [Ксения Агафонова] violated the anti-doping rules of the IAAF in 2009 and is disqualified for 2 years from 29 September 2017’, read the RusAF statement. ‘The retesting of samples from athletes at the Berlin World Cup in Athletics in 2009 revealed the presence of Turinabol’.

In that same year, Agafonova won the Fukuoka International Cross Country, which took place in March. As the World Cup did not take place until August, her results have been annulled from 15 August 2009 until 14 August 2011, which means she retains her victory in Fukuoka.

Exactly the same statement and sanction relates to distance runner Elizabeth Grechishnikova (Елизавета Гречишникова), however she will be disqualified for two years from 18 May 2017. The disqualification of her results is not mentioned in the RusAF statement.

Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, Director of the Moscow and Sochi 2014 anti-doping laboratories, developed the science behind the test for turinabol (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone) used by the IOC to retest samples given at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics. The Independent Person (IP) Report produced by Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found that Dr. Rodchenkov had warned that retesting of samples was likely to lead to positive tests for turinabol.