Olga Zabelinskaya will be eligible to compete at Rio 2016 ©Getty Images

Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya will be eligible to compete at this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after accepting an 18-month doping ban.

The 35-year-old tested positive for the banned weight loss stimulant octopamine following an in-competition test in March 2014.

She was controversially cleared of doping by the Russian Cycling Federation, however, the International Cycling Union opted to appeal the verdict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

According to Cycling Weekly the case has now been resolved “via an acceptance of consequences” by Zabelinskaya, with the Russian accepting the 18-month suspension.

With the suspension dating from the time of the offence, Zabelinskaya’s period of ineligibility expired in September 2015.

Russia’s only cycling Olympic medallist at London 2012, with bronze in both the women’s road race and time trials, will therefore be able to compete at Rio 2016.

Earlier this month, Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko claimed there were "no problems whatsoever" within Russian cycling,  despite a number of doping cases involving competitors from that country. 

Olga Zabelinskaya earned two bronze medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Olga Zabelinskaya earned two bronze medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games ©Getty Images

Track sprinter Yelena Brezhniva, a two-time European team sprint champion in 2013 and 2014, was also banned for four years by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency after failing a drugs test.

Russia's best known cyclist of recent years, Dennis Menchov, was also handed a backdated two-year ban by the UCI in 2014 due to adverse findings in his athlete biological passport.

It has been claimed that Menchov, winner of the 2007 Vuelta a España and 2009 Giro d'Italia before being sanctioned, also received blood transfusions during the 2005 Tour de France.

Russian WorldTour road team Katusha avoided a suspension for between 15 and 45 days, despite two of its riders failing drugs tests within 12 months.

Eduard Vorganov had been provisionally suspended for a doping violation on February 5, with the Russian rider’s team-mate Luca Paolini having tested positive for cocaine at last year’s Tour de France.

The UCI’s Disciplinary Commission, however, ruled that conditions for this punishment were not met, due to Paolini's cocaine use being recreational and not a bid to improve performance.