Yelena Slesarenko: the 2004 Olympic champion’s Beijing 2008 sample tested positive
MARK SHEARMAN
SEVEN more athletes have had results disqualified from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics after retests by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) came back positive for banned substances.
Russia’s Olympic high jump champion from 2004, Yelena Slesarenko, is among the biggest names to have been identified from 2008 in the latest IOC announcements, while 2012 steeplechase champion Yuliya Zaripova has also been disqualified.
Pole vault bronze medallist Denys Yurchenko, triple jump bronze medallist Hrysopiyi Devetzi and high jumper Vita Palamar all tested positive from 2008, and long jumper Margaryta Tverdokhlib and hammer thrower Oleksandr Drygol from 2012.
The disqualifications of the fourth-placed Slesarenko and fifth-placed Palamar, following that of bronze medallist Anna Chicherova announced last month by the IOC, have decimated the Beijing high jump and, if officially corrected, could see 32-year-old American athlete Chaunte Lowe (pictured below) awarded bronze despite originally finishing sixth.