* attention language in par 6
Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk, who denied New Zealand's Valerie Adams gold at the London Olympics before being stripped of the medal for a failed drug test, has avoided a life ban from athletics.
The 33-year-old had been facing a lifetime ban from the sport for two drug offences, but has instead been handed a four-year suspension which will end during the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Ostapchuk's name appears on a list of athletes suspended from competition for breaching IAAF anti-doping rules.
Her ban from the sport ends on August 14 2016, the second week of the Olympics and the third day of the athletics program.
But she will not have been able to post a qualifying distance to be eligible to compete.
Adams made her feelings clear about the Belarusian's ban on social media website Twitter.
"Four years is not enough..WTF. Oh well, it doesn't change what I do tomorrow," she tweeted.
Adams, who won gold at London after Ostapchuk tested positive for the anabolic steroid metenolone, will be seeking her third Olympic gold in Rio after also winning in Beijing in 2008.
Ostapchuk was caught cheating for a second time last year when results from her gold medal-winning performance at the 2005 world championships were retested and she tested positive for steroids.
She is eligible to compete again after serving the ban and after completing reinstatement requirements prescribed by the IAAF.
They include the repayment of any prize money, the return of medals and passing four drug tests.
