Russian high jump champion Anna Chicherova tested negative for doping after an reexamination of her B-sample taken at the London Olympics, a potential boost to Russia's efforts to have its athletics federation reinstated in time for the Olympics in Brazil in August. Chicherova, who won a bronze medal in Beijing in 2008 and went on to claim gold in London, one of the eight Russian athletes whose 2012 A-samples tested positive for doping. The Russian Olympic Committee said 14 of its athletes from Beijing also tested positive for banned substances but they would not be named until the results of their B-sample tests and the start of official disciplinary proceedings expected in June. "At my lawyer's request, I was informed that the samples [taken during the 2012 Games] had been rechecked and tested negative," TASS news agency quoted Chicherova as saying. "As for the Beijing Olympics, the situation has not changed — we are waiting for June 8." Russia's track-and-field athletes have been suspended from international competition since November last year following allegations of a prolific doping and corruption. The Russian anti-doping agency, meanwhile, says six weightlifters, including former world and European junior champions have been banned for doping offenses. The agency says 2014 world junior champion Larisa Kobeleva received a four-year ban and Nadezhda Ovchinnikova, the European junior champion in 2014, was banned for two years. The other four weightlifters received sanctions of between four and eight years for doping offenses committed last year. It did not publish details of the offenses. There was also a four-year ban for Russian judo champion Pyotr Khachirov. The latest bans come less than two weeks before a key vote on whether to allow Russia's track and field team to compete at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said last month multiple athletes from a host of countries and sports had been caught using banned drugs in retests of hundreds of blood samples taken at both Games. — Agencies
