Russian Anna Chicherova, the 2012 Olympic high jump champion who was stripped of a separate Olympic medal for doping, reportedly said she retired at age 40.
Chicherova said she submitted retirement plans to Russian officials last month and plans to continue to play a role in track and field, according to Russian news agency TASS.
Chicherova competed strictly in domestic Russian meets since World Athletics banned Russia from international events in 2015 due to the nation’s doping problems. Starting in 2017, World Athletics allowed individual Russian track and field athletes to compete internationally as neutrals, if cleared by a doping review board.
But in 2016, Chicherova’s 2008 Olympic bronze medal was stripped after a retest of a doping sample from those Games came back positive for an anabolic steroid. American Chaunté Lowe was upgraded from sixth place to bronze since the original fourth- and fifth-place finishers were also disqualified for doping.
Chicherova was suspended for two years and held out of the 2016 Rio Games, where officials allowed one Russian to compete in track and field (long jumper Darya Klishina).
Russia originally won eight track and field gold medals at the 2012 Olympics. Six have been stripped. A seventh, Natalya Antyukh‘s 400m hurdles title, is in line to be stripped, too, after she didn’t appeal a recent retroactive disqualification for doping. American Lashinda Demus is in line to be upgraded from silver to gold.
That would leave Chicherova as the lone Russian track and field gold medalist from the London Games.
High jumper Mariya Lasitskene was the lone Russian to win a track and field gold medal at the Tokyo Games.
All Russians have been banned from international track and field competition since March 1 due to the invasion of Ukraine.
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