Russia's 2006 World Rowing Championship Women’s Quad
gold medals to be returned
The International Rowing Federation (FISA) today announced
that rower Olga Samulenkova of Russia has tested positive
for an exogenous source of metabolites of testosterone and
has been banned from competition in the sport of rowing for
two years. She was a member of the Russian women’s quadruple
scull crew that won a gold medal at the 2006 World Rowing
Championships last August in Eton, Great Britain.
The ban from competition for Samulenkova is back-dated to
23 July 2006, the date on which the anti-doping test took
place resulting in her and her crew members to be disqualified
from any competitions in which they took part after the date
of the test until her provisional suspension from competition
on 26 September 2006.
 2006
Russian women's quadruple sculls:
Olga Samulenkova (left), Oxana Dorodnova,
Larisa Merk and Irina Fedotova (RUS)
(© John Gichigi/Getty Images)
A consequence of this ban is the disqualification of the entire
Russian women’s quadruple scull crew from the 2006 World
Rowing Championships. According to Articles 10 and 11.1 of
the FISA Anti-Doping Rules the crew must now return their
2006 championship gold medals to FISA.
Samulenkova was tested in an out of competition test at a
training camp on 23 July 2006. The result of the test was
communicated to FISA by the Paris laboratory on 22 September
2006, three weeks after the World Rowing Championships. A
“B” sample counter analysis confirmed the result
of the “A” sample in November and the FISA Doping
Hearing Panel concluded the process and delivered its decision
this morning.
A consequence of this decision is that the women’s
quadruple scull crew from Great Britain that placed second
at the 2006 World Rowing Championships are now World Champions.
The third placed crew from Australia receive the silver medal
and the fourth placed crew from Germany move up to bronze.
FISA fully adopted the World Anti Doping Code in 2003 and
has made it an integral part of the FISA Anti-Doping Rules.
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