Russia's double Olympic medallist suspended

Moscow - The Sydney and Athens Olympics bronze medallist in the women’s long jump Tatiana Kotova has been suspended from competition after testing positive for a banned substance, the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) announced Friday.

The sample Kotova gave during the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, where she took the silver, failed recent testing, Rusada said on its website.

“Tatiana Kotova has been informed about the fact of a possible violation of anti-doping rules and about her rights,” a statement said.

The 36-year-old is “suspended from participation in competitions and training camps from January 29 until a decision is made on the existence of doping violations,” it added.

Rusada said it was informed about the positive result by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) last month. It is not clear when the retest was done, and there were no details on the nature of the banned substance.

Kotova won consecutive bronze medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and took three gold medals at the World Indoor Championships.