Russia's Tatyana Chernova Had Her 2008 Olympic Heptathlon Bronze Taken After Sample Retesting

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

Tatyana Chernova, the 29-year-old Russian heptathlete, has been stripped of another medal after retests from her 2008 Olympic performance came back positive for turinabol, a banned substance according to the Associated Press and USA Today.

Chernova originally finished fourth with 6,591 points, but Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine was disqualified for doping after initially securing the silver medal. Chernova was upgraded to bronze.

Now, however, Great Britain's Kelly Sotherton is in line to receive the bronze medal. She originally finished fifth in the competition.

This is not Chernova's first doping violation. She had previously been stripped of her 2012 Olympic bronze and 2011 world championship gold after retests came back positive for the anabolic steroid turinabol, the same drug contained in her 2008 sample.

A reason for the large number of turinabol positives in retests has been the addition of a new test in the anti-doping arsenal. The test used in 2008 could only detect turinabol use within the last several days. The new test is much more sensitive and can detect usage within the last several weeks.

Chernova is currently serving a two-year suspension for her first doping violation. It is unclear what further actions will be taken against her for this second violation. At this point, Chernova has been stripped of all of her senior global medals that she has ever captured.