3 Russian Olympic champion race walkers banned for doping

FILE - In this Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012 file photo Sergey Kirdyapkin, of Russia, wins the gold medal in the men's 50-kilometer race walk at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London. Three Russian Olympic champions have been provisionally suspended as part of an investigation into doping in Russian athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federations has told The Associated Press. The three, all race-walkers, are Sergei Kirdyapkin, who won gold in the men’s 50-kilometer race at the London 2012 Olympics, and Valery Borchin and Olga Kaniskina, who won men’s and women’s 20km gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

By Associated Press January 20, 2015 1 min read

MOSCOW (AP) – The Russian Anti-Doping Agency has banned five race-walkers, three of them Olympic gold medalists.

Bans of three years and two months were handed to Olympic champion Sergei Kirdyapkin and Olga Kaniskina, as well as 2011 world champ Sergei Bakulin. All three cases backdated to late 2012.

The dates mean Kirdyapkin will be eligible to defend his men’s 50-kilometer title at the 2016 Olympics.

Valery Borchin, an Olympic gold medalist in 2008, is banned for eight years from October 2008 for a second offense, while Vladimir Kanaykin has been banned for life for a repeat doping offense.

The bans do not affect any Olympic medals, although five world championship gold medals from 2009 and 2011 now appear likely to be re-awarded.