Russia is set to be stripped of a Team Gold Medal won in the 50km event at the Murcia 2015 European Race Walking Cup, after reanalysis of a sample given by Ivan Nozkov’s (Иван Носков) revealed an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for erythropoietin (EPO). Nozkov had already been sanctioned with a four year ban due to an out of competition sample given on 2 June 2015 at the Saransk Race Walking Centre, which also returned an AAF for EPO.

Nozkov’s results had already been disqualified from the date of that 2 June test until 15 July 2015, when his provisional suspension in relation to that AAF began. His four year ban was completed on 15 July 2019.

Last week, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics announced that his results would now be disqualified from 29 January until 2 June 2015, listing ‘presence of EPO’ as the reason. This suggests that a test on 29 January 2015 matched the 2 June test in returning an AAF for EPO.

The 2015 European Race Walking Cup took place on 17 May 2015 and Nozkov finished second behind team mate Mikhail Ryzhov (Михаил Рыжов), helping the Russian Team to win Gold in the 50km. As such, Nozkov’s results at that event are scheduled to be annulled and Russia will lose the 50km Team Gold.

Ryzhov was one of five other race walkers tested alongside Nozkov at Saransk on 2 June 2015 that also reported AAFs for EPO. Like Nozkov, he was provisionally suspended from 2 June, and served a four year ban from 15 June 2015. All six race walkers appealed¹ to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which concluded that they had received advice from ‘an unidentified party’.

The Decisions reveal that although a DCO arrived on site at 6:30am, no athlete could be found for almost 12 hours. ‘Furthermore, the DCO tried to call the concerned athletes but none of them answered their phones and, after several other obstructive actions, the athletes finally showed up at 6 p.m. to be tested’, they read.

All athletes tested on 2 June returned ‘heavily diluted’ samples, continue the CAS Decisions, which conclude that this indicates ‘a concerted effort to prevent the detection of prohibited substances’. All the athletes requested analysis of their B samples, but ‘could not find the money’ for pay for the costs of B sample analysis. All of them eventually told the CAS that they would prefer for a ruling to be issued based on written submissions rather than a hearing.

The Decisions outline that the CAS considers these similarities between the cases ‘suggests a centralised and coordinated approach has been adopted to preclude [the athletes] from providing any evidence or testimony regarding the nature and scope of the usage of prohibited substances or methods by Russian race walkers and/or to identify other persons involved in orchestrating these anti-doping rule violations’. It found that this centralised approach meant that reductions to four year bans could not be applied.

The Saransk Race Walking Centre, where the athletes were tested on 2 June 2015, was named after Viktor Chegin (Виктор Чёгин). The race walking coach continued to work with race walkers until April 2018, despite being sanctioned with a lifetime ban in March 2016. He is understood to have coached over 25 athletes who have been sanctioned for doping, including Nozkov and Ryzhov. The former Director of the Centre, Viktor Kolesnikov (Виктор Колесников), was suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) at the end of 2014 for possessing blood transfusion equipment.

The Centre has since been renamed as the Sports School of Olympic Reserve in Saransk (СШОР). The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) was forced into launching an investigation into the centre last year, after RUSADA received information that Chegin was continuing to work with athletes. After RusAF launched its investigation, mentions of Chegin’s involvement in the development and successes of the СШОР were removed from its internet site.

However Chegin’s security company, Honor-C (Честь-С) received three contracts from the State worth 8.5 million roubles (€123,000) to manage security at СШОР, reported Sports.ru in June 2019. Chegin’s company is listed as providing security services to the СШОР in a download from 2018 still available on its internet site.

Since RusAF announced its investigation, its response to charges that officials had fabricated medical records and falsified information to assist high jumper Danil Lysenko (Данил Лысенко) cover up a ‘whereabouts’ anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) necessitated a change in management. The outcome of its investigation into allegations that Chegin is still involved with the СШОР has never been published.

Since RUSADA announced an investigation into allegations of doping in the Chuvash Republic, an audit commissioned by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) resulted in a change in management. The outcome of its investigation into allegations of doping in the Chuvash Republic has never been published.

^{1. The CAS Decision in Nozkov’s case is here; the CAS Decision in Ryzhov’s case is here; the CAS Decision in Elmira Alembekova’s (Эльмира Алембекова) case is here; the CAS Decision in Stanislav Emelyanov’s (Станислав Емельянов) case is here; the CAS Decision in Vera Sokolova’s (Вера Соколова) case is here; and the CAS Decision in Denis Strelkov’s (Денис Стрелков) case is here.↩}