The FINA Doping Panel has added a two-year suspension onto the Olympic disqualification of European Champion Olga Beresnyeva, the organization announced on Friday.
During an IOC-mandated retest of some samples collected during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Beresnyeva’s 7th-place finish in the open water 10k was erased from the books after testing positive for recombinant erythropoletin (rEPO). The IOC announced the results in early June.
The IOC Disciplinary Commission then transferred the matter to FINA to consider for former punishment, and FINA handed out a two-year suspension: the maximum allowed for a first offense under the World Anti-Doping Code in effect at the time of the Olympics.
FINA officially imposed the suspension on August 19th, 2015, and it is set to conclude on August 18th, 2017, meaning that she’ll be ineligible to compete at both the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2017 World Championships.
Further, all of her results after July 28th, 2015 are annulled by FINA’s decision, as are all award and prizes thereof.
Beresnyeva, who turned 30 earlier this month, was the 2010 European Champion in the open water 25k. She represented Ukraine at the 2000 Olympics, then changed her sporting citizenship to Israeli to qualify for the 2004 Olympics. After missing the Israeli team in 2008, she returned to Ukrainian citizenship, under whose flag she won the European title in 2010.
She’s also the current Ukrainian National Record holder in the 1500m free in long course (16:27.76) from 2003 and short course (16:25.06) from 2002, and holds 9 Ukrainian Junior Records as well.
Ah, FINA. It’s the low season now for international swimming news, so grateful to the FINA overlords for some content.
Two questions:
It really took FINA and WADA over three years to administer sample tests?
If she defects to China or South Korea, can this penalty be amended to a either a 2 year ban starting in 2017 or a 6 month ban so she can compete in Rio next summer?
Just me asking.