By Duncan Mackay

Olga Kuzenkova with Russian flag Athens 2004April 2 - Former world and Olympic champions Svetlana Krivelyova and Olga Kuzenkova have been banned for two years each for failing drugs tests after their samples were re-examined, the Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) announced today.


The 42-year-old Kuzenkova (pictured top), 2004 Olympic champion in the women's hammer, tested positive at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, where she also took the gold medal.

"Kuzenkova has been banned for two years starting from March 27, 2013," the VFLA said on its website.

The VFLA have annulled all her results from August 12, 2005 to August 11, 2007, meaning she will lose her 2005 World title.

Cuba's Yipsi Moreno, who finished second in Helsinki, is now in line to be awarded the gold medal.

Krivelyova, 43, who won the women's shot put gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 2003 World Championships in Paris, failed a test at the 2004 Athens Games.

Krivelyova had already been stripped of the 2004 bronze medal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after her sample was re-tested.

Svetlana KrivelyovaSvetlana Krivelyova, the 1992 Olympic and 2003 world shot put champion, has been banned for two years

She finished fourth in Athens but was promoted to third after her Russian teammate Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of gold after failing a drugs test for the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

"Krivelyova has been banned for two years starting from April 2, 2013," the VFLA said. 

"All her results from August 18, 2004 to August 17, 2006 will be annulled," 

Both Kuzenkova and Krivelyova have been retired from the sport for several years.

An eight-year statute of limitations on doping offences means that the Olympic gold medals the pair won cannot be taken away from them. 

Yelena Churakova, 26, who competed for Russia at the 2012 London Olympics, reaching the semifinals in the women's 400 metres hurdles, also received a two-year ban after testing positive for the anabolic steroid testosterone at a training camp in Portugal in January, the VFLA said.

Several other top Russian athletes remain under examination, including London 2012 discus silver medallist Darya Pishchalnikova, whose B-sample from those Olympics when re-examined showed traces Oxandrolone, a steroid used for burning fat.

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