World Olympians Association bans Lebedeva

Moscow, Jan 28: The World Olympians Association (WOA) has prohibited Russian triple jump and long jump champion Tatiana Lebedeva from working in the associations Executive Committee for a life-time period amid doping allegations against the athlete.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday stripped Lebedeva of silver medals from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, after banned substances were allegedly found during repeat tests of her samples from the games, reports Sputnik.

"During an urgent meeting of the WOA Executive Committee late last night, WOA found Tatyana Lebedeva guilty of a breach of the WOA Code of Conduct while she was a member of the WOA Executive Committee. As a result, she will serve the following WOA sanctions: a life-time ban from standing for election to the WOA Executive Committee," WOA said in a statement on Friday.

WOA also recommended to the Russian Olympians Association to suspend Lebedeva's membership and deprive the athlete of the ability to use the Olympian.org email address.

WOA noted that it was aware of the fact that Lebedeva intends to appeal the decision on the sanctions and stressed that the restrictive measures would remain in force and would not be reviewed until the appeal process is completed.