October 20, 2008 7 Russian women athletes banned for doping

MOSCOW (AP) - Seven leading Russian women athletes were banned for two years Monday for manipulating doping samples, the Russian Athletics Federation said.

The seven women, many of them potential Olympic medalists, had been provisionally suspended by the IAAF in July after a 1½-year investigation. They missed the Beijing Games.

The women include two-time world 1,500-meter champion Tatyana Tomashova and world indoor 1,500-meter champion Yelena Soboleva.

The others are distance runners Yuliya Fomenko and Svetlana Cherkasova, European discus champion Darya Pishchalnikova, former hammer world record-holder Gulfia Khanafeyeva and former world 5,000-meter champion Olga Yegorova.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)