Russian track coach banned for 4 years for attempting bribe

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian track coach has been banned for four years after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled he tried to bribe a doping tester.

CAS arbitrator Sylvia Schenk said she had “no reasonable doubt” that Andrei Eremenko had suggested a bribe in return for someone else’s urine being submitted for testing, according to a copy of the ruling published by the Russian anti-doping agency on Thursday.

Staff from the Russian agency spent seven hours in 2017 trying to get a sample from hurdler Yulia Malueva, who was trained by Eremenko.

Malueva allegedly produced a urine sample but tipped it into the toilet while falling to the floor during what she said was a faint. Eremenko then “called an ambulance without any reasonable basis,” according to the ruling, and Malueva was hospitalized.

At the hospital, Eremenko allegedly offered a bribe to submit a false urine sample as if it were from Malueva.

The Russian agency was appealing against a decision from its own disciplinary panel to clear Eremenko. That panel banned Malueva for four years in 2018 for failing to give a sample.