Russia bans athletes Kotova, Ikonnikov for dope

The Russian athletics federation handed down two year bans to long jumper Tatiana Kotova and hammer thrower Kirill Ikonnikov on Wednesday after the pair returned positive doping results. The 36-year-old Kotova, who won Olympic bronze at Sydney 2000 and four years later at Athens was initially suspended in February after her samples from the 2005 Helsinki world championships detected the presence of a banned substance. The 2002 European champion has seen all her results from August 10, 2005 to August 9, 2007 declared void. Ikonnikov, who has won three national titles, was also suspended from all competition after his A sample given on October 8, 2012, showed the presence of banned substances. Source: AFP