Tatiana Kashirina has been banned for eight years for doping ©BWF/Belta

Four weeks after making her international comeback, world champion weightlifter Tatiana Kashirina has been banned for eight years because a decision about a doping violation was overturned.

The five-time super-heavyweight world champion and multiple world record holder is suspended until 2031, and at the age of 32, her career is over.

Kashirina, a silver medallist at the London 2012 Olympic Games, posted the biggest total in the history of women’s weightlifting in 2014 when she made 348 kilograms at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Kazakhstan.

She was suspended for two years after testing positive in 2006, aged 15, and this second offence led to the standard eight-year ban for repeat offenders.

Kashirina's second offence came to light during an investigation into historic malpractice at the Moscow laboratory and she was provisionally suspended in November 2020 for "use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method".

The offence would appear to have taken place before 2015.

Eight months later, the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee of Russia's National Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) found there was no case to answer and cleared Kashirina, although it was too late for her to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The disciplinary committee is independent of RUSADA, which strongly disagreed with the decision to clear Kashirina and filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last September.

Tatiana Kashirina recently won gold at the CIS Games in Belarus ©Getty Images
Tatiana Kashirina recently won gold at the CIS Games in Belarus ©Getty Images

A month later, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) also filed an appeal against the disciplinary committee’s decision.

Both appeals have been upheld by CAS and the ruling was officially announced by RUSADA on its website yesterday.

Kashirina's eight-year suspension began last Monday, RUSADA said. She will be 40 when it ends.

WADA's investigation into the Moscow laboratory, known as Operations LIMS, has led to more than 200 doping charges being brought against athletes in a range of sports.

In the first week of August, Kashirina, slimmed down and competing in the 87kg category, made a winning return to the international circuit.

Russia is unable to compete at IWF events under its own flag, and has rejected conditions imposed for its weightlifters to lift as neutrals, but it prospered at the second CIS Games in Belarus, winning 11 of the 20 gold medals at the nine-nation competition in Grodno.

Kashirina made six-from-six in her 117-145-262 and said afterwards, "If I had to, I would have done more.

"I’m glad that I was able to show people what I do in the gym. 

"I'm in this sport for 22 years and I'm really proud of it."