Doping Mess: Olympic champion vows to clear name

Russian high jump Olympic champion Anna Chicherova on Wednesday vowed to clear her name after testing positive for doping at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, casting doubt on her participation in Rio.

Russia’s Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that 14 of its athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — including Chicherova and nine other medallists — tested positive in new tests on samples given during the Games, as Moscow faces allegations of state-organised doping.

“For me it’s the most complete shock. I can’t explain how it could have happened,” said Chich-erova, who hopes to compete in August’s Rio Games if Russia’s team is allowed to enter.

Chicherova is the reigning Olympic high jump champion after winning gold in London in 2012. She won bronze in Beijing.

“I was always sure what supplements and medicines I was using,” she said.

“I hope I can defend my name as clean.”

The announcement came after the International Olympic Committee said that 31 athletes from 12 countries had failed doping tests of their samples from the Beijing Games.

While Russia has not officially named its athletes, a list was aired on Match TV channel and Chicherova confirmed she had indeed received notification that her sample showed evidence of banned substances.

She described her present situation of waiting for the final results after a second sample is tested on May 31 or June 1 in Switzerland as “very painful and unpleasant.”

The Russian athletics federation said Tuesday that if allowed to compete at Rio, it would bar any athlete found to have used doping in previous years.

The world athletics governing body IAAF next month is set to rule whether to lift Russia’s provisional suspension from Rio over evidence of state-sponsoring doping.