Some details about the Russian doping allegations

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Some details are starting to emerge in the Russian doping scandal that threatens to keep five athletes, including some possible medal contenders, from competing in the Beijing Games.

All that the International Assn. of Athletics Federations said early Thursday was that seven female Russian athletes had been ‘provisionally suspended’ for suspected doping violations.

Listed in the brief news release were: runners Svetlana Cherkasova (800 meters), Yulia Fomenko (1,500), Yelena Soboleva (800 and 1,500), Tatyana Tomashova (1,500) and Olga Yegorova (1,500 and 5,000), hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva and discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova.

Fomenko, Khanafeyeva, Pishchalnikova, Soboleva and Tomashova were members of the preliminary Russian team named for the Beijing Olympics. Tomashova is a two-time world 1,500 champion. Soboleva is a world-record holder and world champion middle-distance runner who was favored to win both the 800 and 1,500 meters at the Olympics.

The rules allow the athletes to call for an emergency ruling to suspend the ban, but time is going to be an issue because track and field competition starts Aug. 15.

The Associated Press reports that doping experts began to compare athletes’ in-competition urine samples -- which clearly were delivered by the athletes themselves -- to those taken out of competition.

‘After a long and careful study, it was clear it was not the same people giving the sample,’ a source close to the investigation told the Associated Press. The samples taken out of competition dated from March to August 2007, the source said.

How badly would losing the five Olympic team members hurt Russia?

“According to their latest results, they were considered to be real contenders for Olympic medals, including gold,” said All Russia Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev.

-- Greg Johnson