 Firova behind Debbie Dunn during the 2010 World Indoor Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | October 10, 1982 Sarov, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 59 kg (130 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Russia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | 4 × 400 m relay | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tatyana Pavlovna Firova (Russian: Татьяна Павловна Фирова; born October 10, 1982) is a Russian former sprint athlete. She was awarded 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.[1] 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?"[2] Although offending athletes are required to return their stripped medals to the IOC, Firova refused to return her medals.[3]
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.[4]
