MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva, who won silver four days ago in the 15k at the Olympics in Turin, was ordered by the main Olympic executive body to leave Italy after testing positive for a banned substance. On Thursday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Pyleva of her medals and imposed a two-year ban on her participation in international biathlon competitions.
The International Biathlon Union (IBU) decided Friday in a closed session to back the two-year ban for the Russian athlete.
Nikolai Durmanov, the head of the anti-doping department of the Russian Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport, said Pyleva had not known she was taking a banned substance, which was prescribed by her personal doctor.
"In January, Pyleva was injured, and her doctor prescribed a series of medications for treatment, one of which contained the banned substance," Durmanov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio.
Durmanov did not explain why the banned substance had not been discovered earlier in Pyleva's blood tests.
"In Pyleva's words, she took the prescribed medicine starting in the 20s of January, but since subsequently underwent two blood tests on January 25 and 30, and the substance was not discovered," Durmanov said.
Mario Pescante, a member of the Olympic organizing committee and the president of the European Association of Olympic Committees, said prosecutors in Turin had launched a criminal investigation into the positive doping tests.
Under a law enacted in 2000, the use of banned substances in Italy is a criminal offense, which carries a penalty of up to two years. The IOC proposed suspending this law for the duration of the Olympics, but the Italian authorities rejected the idea.
Pescante said one of the difficulties in the case was that under Italian legislation an alleged crime should be prosecuted where it was purported to have been committed rather than where it was detected. He said the final decision would depend on the judge in the case.
The official added that if the judge decided that the crime had been committed in Russia, he would rule that the case was outside his jurisdiction.
With the IOC decision to strip the Russian biathlete of her medal, the silver went to Germany's Martina Glagow, and Pyleva's teammate Albina Akhatova was awarded the bronze.
Russian cross-country skiers Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova were also stripped of their medals and banned from participating in the sport for two years after they tested positive for doping at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
