The International Biathlon Union on Friday banned Russian athlete Olga Pyleva for two years after she tested positive for drugs at the Turin Winter Olympics.
"We have had the hearing with the athlete and we spoke to her doctor this morning. The IBU has decided to give a two-year ban to both of them," IBU chief Anders Besseberg said in a statement.
Pyleva, who won the 15-km individual biathlon silver medal, had claimed she was given the drug by her private doctor who assured her it was safe.
"I want to say that I have never intentionally used any banned substances. It is a huge and horrible mistake," she told reporters after testifying at the hearing but before the ban was announced.
"I hope they believe me. I have always been open. I have spoken only the truth," she said.
She has said she took the drug for an injury.
Apart from the ban, Pyleva will also be questioned by Italian magistrates. Use of banned substances is a criminal offence in Italy.
Pyleva was stunned to hear she was being called in for questioning.
"What? There is a case against me?," Pyleva, visibly shocked asked reporters, adding this is going to be her last Games and did not want to end her career this way.
Asked whether she thought she would be convicted, Pyleva said: "I hope not. I really hope it won't happen."
BLAME GAME
Pyleva was stripped of her medal and Olympic accreditation and was forced out of the athletes village. She said she would remain in Italy for the time being and did not yet know when she would leave.
Her private doctor, Nina Vinogradova, blamed the Russian pharmaceutical company saying she had prescribed the right medicine which was approved by the drug's manufacturer.
"It's a new medicine but it had all the necessary certificates," Vinogradova told a news conference in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
But Russia's biathlon chief shifted the blame on the doctor.
"She [Pyleva] never told us that she took some medicine which was prescribed by her private doctor," Alexander Tikhonov said in televised comments. "The doctor just made a mistake in prescribing the wrong medicine."
A gold medallist in the 10-km pursuit at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, Pyleva tested positive for carphedon, a prohibited stimulant, on February 13 after the women's 15-km individual biathlon.
Russian media on Friday pointed a finger at Leonid Tyagachyov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The Sovietsky Sport newspaper said Tyagachyov had publicly promised no repeat of a huge doping scandal that rocked Russia at the Salt Lake City Olympics four years ago.
"Yesterday's Olga Pyleva drama proved that Russian sports officials are simply not capable of learning lessons from previous doping scandals. And from their mistakes as well," it said.
