Russia doping: Federation bans athletes as Team GB wait on Olympic medals

Kapachinskaya (left) formed part of the 4x400m team which has been stripped of a 2008 Olympic medal

Russia has banned three athletes for four years each as a result of retested samples taken at the 2008 Olympics.

Anastasiya Kapachinskaya, Inga Abitova and Denis Alekseyev tested positive for banned substance Turinabol.

Kapachinskaya claimed silver in the women's 4x400m relay, while Alekseyev took bronze in the men's 4x400m.

Their medals had already been reallocated by the International Olympic Committee, with Great Britain set to receive bronze in both events.

The GB women's quartet - Christine Ohuruogu, Kelly Sotherton, Marilyn Okoro and Nicola Sanders - finished fifth but have moved to third as a result of both third-placed Russia and fourth-placed Belarus being disqualified due to subsequent failed tests.

The men's four - Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney - moved from fourth to third when the IOC stripped third-placed Russia of their medal in September.

The Russian Athletic Federation has now handed out its own discipline to the three athletes, who each admitted their guilt to world governing body the IAAF.

In addition, Kapachinskaya tested positive for stanozolol and her retested sample from the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu also came back positive.

Abitova, who came sixth in the women's 10,000m in Beijing, was the only one of the trio whose offence did not see medals reallocated.

When will GB athletes get their medals?

Marilyn Okoro (left) was part of the Great Britain team at the 2008 Olympics

British Athletics is now in possession of medals that can be presented to the men's 4x400m team.

A ceremony could be held at the World Athletics Championships in London in August or at the Anniversary Games in the same city a month earlier.

But, as the World Championships is an IAAF event, the IOC would have to give permission for any presentation to take place as Olympic medals fall under their jurisdiction.

British Athletics does not have possession of medals for the women's 4x400m team yet as legal proceedings are ongoing regarding athletes in their race.

Sotherton is also due to receive a heptathlon bronze from the 2008 Games after being upgraded, while Goldie Sayers was also moved up to third place in the women's javelin.

Both are also waiting on legal proceedings to conclude before their medals can be handed out.

The IOC is retesting hundreds of stored samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics using improved testing techniques.

Russia was accused in a World Anti-Doping Agency report last year of state-sponsored doping. Its athletics team was barred from last summer's Rio Olympics and remains banned.