UCI appeals decision to clear Russian Olympic medallist of doping

The UCI says it will appeal the decision of Russia’s anti-doping agency to clear Olga Zabelinskaya, the cyclist who won two medals at the 2012 Olympic Games, of doping charges.

Last year Zabelinskaya, who won bronze medals in both the time trial and the road race in London – the latter behind Marianne Vos of the Netherlands and Team GB’s Lizzie Armitstead – failed an anti-doping control for the banned weight-loss stimulant octopamine.

The anti-doping tribunal of Russia’s national cycling federation, the FSVR, has cleared her of any wrongdoing, meaning she will be able to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio, reports Inside The Games.

The cyclist had claimed that she had either ingested the substance innocently, or that the elevated levels of it that she tested positive for had been produced naturally by her body.

It is banned in-competition, but permitted in tests taken out-of-competition, and occurs naturally in a number of foods.

The UCI has confirmed that it plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

In a statement provided to the Inside The Games, world cycling’s governing body said: “On December 16, the UCI filed an appeal before CAS against the RFC’S decision whereby Olga Zabelinskaya was cleared.

"Since the proceedings are ongoing, we won’t comment any further.”

News of Zabelinskaya's exoneration comes at a time when it remains unclear whether the country’s track and field athletes will be permitted to compete at Rio in the wake of a World Anti-Doping Agency report that found widespread and institutionalised doping in the country.