MOSCOW, July 25 (R-Sport) - A member of Russia’s Olympic water polo team from the London 2012 Games has been handed a three-month ban for breaking anti-doping rules, authorities said Thursday.
Ekaterina Tankeeva, 23, is one of several members of Russia's 436-strong delegation to have fallen afoul of doping regulations.
The Russian Water Polo Federation “has disqualified the athlete Ekaterina Tankeeva for three months starting from April 16, 2013, for a breach of anti-doping rules,” the Russian Anti-Doping Agency said in a website statement.
No further details of the nature of the offense were given, nor any explanation of the comparatively short length of the ban, which she has already served.
The ban was "of course" linked to a provisional suspension already handed to Tankeeva for failing a drug test in April, federation spokesman Sergei Petrov told R-Sport. The ban ended July 15, he said.
Petrov declined to comment on what had been found in Tankeeva's sample or any of the other circumstances surrounding her disqualification.
An earlier RUSADA announcement said Tankeeva had failed the test along with one of her teammates at the Shturm 2002 club, Evgenia Pustynnikova, of whom there was no news Thursday.
The highest-profile athlete from Russia's London Olympic team to get a doping ban is Daris Pishchalnikova, who was stripped of her discus silver medal and banned for 10 years after failing a test.
Also banned are swimmers Natalia Lovtsova and Ekaterina Andreeva, European 800 meters champion Elena Arzhakova, hammer thrower Kirill Ikonnikov and hurdler Elena Churakova. Track cyclist Victoria Baranova was sent home from London after admitting taking artificial testosterone.
