The other six athletes were middle distance runners Svetlana Cherkasova, Yulia Fomenko, former double world champion Tatyana Tomashova and Olga Yegorova, hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva – a former world champion, and reigning European discus champion Darya Pishchalnikova.

The bans are retroactive, coming into effect April 2007 when said samples had been taken. The athletes were initially suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations out of the Beijing Olympics in August after discovery of doping test irregularities. DNA sampling pointed to their illegal activity.

Valentin Balakhnichev, the head of the Russian athletics federation, said Monday: “We suspended for two years all of the seven athletes involved in the case for violations of the doping code.

According to AFP report, Pishchalnikova gave samples on April 10, Cherkasova and Soboleva on April 26, Fomenko on April 27, Khanafeyeva on May 9, and Tomashova on May 23. Yegorova’s date would be determined later.