Tatyana Firova

Tatyana Pavlovna Firova (Russian: Татьяна Павловна Фирова; born October 10, 1982) is a Russian former sprint athlete. She won the silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In 2016, it was announced that a reanalysis of samples from the 2008 Summer Olympics resulted in a doping violation by Firova. She was disqualified from the competition, and she and her teammates were stripped of their 4 × 400 m relay silver medals. She claimed that using banned substances was necessary for achieving good results: "A normal person can take banned substances if they want to. So why can't athletes take them as well? How else can we achieve high results?" Although offending athletes are required to return their stripped medals to the IOC, Firova refused to return her medals.

In February 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed her a four-year ban for doping, starting from 9 June 2016, and all of her results from 20 August 2008 to 31 December 2012 were disqualified.

In 2009, she became a bronze medalist at the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, in the 4x400 relay. In the same year, she was recognized as the best athlete in the Nizhny Novgorod region according to a survey by the Nizhny Novgorod Sport newspaper.

In February 2010, she became the Russian indoor champion at a distance of 400 m.

At the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Qatar, Tatyana, along with her teammates Ksenia Vdovina, Natalia Nazarova, Svetlana Pospelova, became a silver medalist in the 4 × 400 m relay, and also won the first individual award at major tournaments - silver in the race at 400 m.

Repeatedly Tatyana Firova became the winner of the stages of the IAAF Grand Prix.

Biography

Tatyana Firova has been involved in athletics since early childhood, her first coach was Marina Yurievna Mochkaeva. Tatyana also trained with Alexander Viktorovich Abramov at the Metallurg Club (Vyksa) and Sergei Alexandrovich Popov.

In 2001 she became a European champion among juniors, in 2003 - a European champion among youth and a two-time winner of the 2003 Universiade.

In 2004, in Athens, Tatiana took part in the Olympic Games for the first time and won a silver medal in the 4x400 relay.

Tatyana Pavlovna Firova (Russian: Татьяна Павловна Фирова; born October 10, 1982) is a Russian former sprint athlete. She won the silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In 2016, it was announced that a reanalysis of samples from the 2008 Summer Olympics resulted in a doping violation by Firova. She was disqualified from the competition, and she and her teammates were stripped of their 4 × 400 m relay silver medals. She claimed that using banned substances was necessary for achieving good results: "A normal person can take banned substances if they want to. So why can't athletes take them as well? How else can we achieve high results?" Although offending athletes are required to return their stripped medals to the IOC, Firova refused to return her medals.

In February 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed her a four-year ban for doping, starting from 9 June 2016, and all of her results from 20 August 2008 to 31 December 2012 were disqualified.