The Athletics Integrity Unit Ends 15-Month Investigation of Danil Lysenko

By Adam Kopet

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced doping related charges against seven Russians Thursday, including five officials from the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF).

The charges stem from a 15-month investigation of Danil Lysenko, the 2017 IAAF World Outdoor Championships silver medalist in the high jump. He registered three whereabouts failures in a 12-month span, culminating in a provisional suspension on Aug. 3, 2018.

The AIU investigated Lysenko's situation and found forged documents were used in his defense. Those documents pointed to complicity of RusAF officials.

The charges of tampering and/or complicity have been brought against Dmitry Shlyakhtin (President), Alexander Parkin (Executive Director), Artur Karamyan (Board Member and President of the Moscow Regional Athletics Federation), Elena Orlova (Senior Administrator) and Elena Ikonnikova (Anti-Doping Coordinator). Lysenko and his coach, Evgeniy Zagorulko, have also been charged.

This would count as an additional charge against Lysenko, which would likely extend his ban. Jemima Sumgong, the first Kenyan woman to win the Olympic marathon in 2016 had her ban doubled to eight years and restarted, after she was found to have lied and produced forged documents in her defense against a positive test for the blood-boosting drug, EPO.

At this point, all seven people charged face provisional suspensions. They will have a chance to defend themselves. Further, RusAF has been given until Dec. 12 to explain itself. The organization has been suspended since Nov. 2015 after state sponsored doping was uncovered. With this latest incident, it is growing unlikely that Russia will be reinstated to compete in track and field at the 2020 Olympics.