MOSCOW (AP) — Former world and European shot put champion Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus has been banned for life after a second doping violation.
The Belarus Athletics Federation imposed the ban after the former Olympic bronze medalist tested positive in retests of his doping sample from the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
Mikhnevich had previously tested positive in 2001 and served a two-year ban.
The athlete says he’s innocent and will seek to have his ban overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The ban will go into force after it is upheld by the IAAF.
Mikhnevich was one of six athletes from Russia and Belarus caught in IAAF retests of their Helsinki samples.