Turkish athlete Elvan Abeylegesse gets two-year ban for doping

The disciplinary committee of TAF announced on March 31 that a reanalysis of Abeylegesse’s sample taken at the 2007 World Championships by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had tested positive for doping.

The athlete had won the silver medal in the 10,000m event at the championships in Osaka, Japan. She also won silver medals in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 

Abeylegesse’s manager, Önder Özbilen, slammed the TAF decision, arguing that a complaint they had filed against IAAF in Monaco courts would clear his client.

“Elvan has never used a banned substance; the IAAF decision is based on interpretation, not facts,” he told Anadolu Agency, arguing that a report prepared by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) expert found eight inconsistencies in the IAAF decision on Abeylegesse.

Abeylegesse last week sued IAAF for “technical failures” in her retrospective analysis. She applied to the Monaco administrative court, stating that the IAAF had made mistakes in her retrospective analysis of her urine samples from the 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

The IAAF announced last August that a disciplinary investigation had been launched against 28 athletes who took part in the 2005 and 2007 World Championships after detecting 32 “adverse findings” in a second analysis.

A majority of these athletes are reportedly retired and other are already sanctioned for doping.

Refuting the doping claims, Abeylegesse said last year, “I have not used a [banned] substance and I have never thought about taking one.”