With Only One Out of 23 Medals Returned Russia Looks at Sanctioning Non-Compliant Athletes

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

There have been 23 Russians stripped of medals from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games because of doping sanctions. At this time, only one athlete has returned any medals.

Anton Kokorin, who lost his 2008 4x400m relay bronze medal after teammate Denis Alexeyev's disqualification for a banned steroid, is the only athlete to return his medal.

The Associated Press and ESPN report the Russian track federation (ARAF) is proposing that athletes who do not return medals will face further sanctions at home. Namely, the disqualification from competing in the Russian Championships and exclusion from the testing pool. The latter is one of several requirements to qualify for IAAF events as a neutral athlete.

However, it is unclear how much sanctions would encourage athletes to return stripped medals. Many of the athletes involved are already serving doping bans and some have retired from track and field completely.

Sanctions are most likely to affect athletes who have not directly faced doping disqualifications, like Kokorin, but lost medals after relay team members were disqualified.