Convicted doper Liliya Shobukhova targets return at Rio Olympics
Convicted doper Liliya Shobukhova told Russian news agency TASS that she intends to return to competition and targets a spot on the Russian national team for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Schobukhova's personal best of 2:18:20 from the 2011 Chicago Marathon ranked as the second fastest marathon run by a woman before the Russian Athletic Federation first reported abnormalities in Shobukhova's biological passport, used to detect doping over a period of time, in April 2014.
Shobukhova was also accused of paying off anti-doping officials to cover up her positive tests.
Her suspension by the International Association of Athletics Federations nullified all of her results dating back to Oct. 2009. Shobukhova was the winner of the Chicago Marathon from 2009 to 2011 and was also victorious at the 2010 London Marathon. Chicago and London have stripped her of her titles and have requested that she return all prize money.
Shobukhova most recently ran a 76:30 for fifth place at the Russian National Half-Marathon Championships.
Her suspension was scheduled to end in March 2016, but she was made eligible in Aug. for cooperating with authorities and assisting in the investigation. She is now eligible to compete at the upcoming Summer Olympics.
Shobukhova would be 38 by the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2012 Olympics in London, she did not finish the women's marathon. She finished sixth in the 5,000-meter run at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and 13th in the same event at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
- Christopher Chavez
