Lyudmyla Blonska

Lyudmyla Leonydovna Blonska ( _uk. Людмила Леонидовна Блонская, "Lyudmyla Leonydovna Blonskaya"), née Shevchuk (born November 9 1977 in Simferopol) is a Ukrainian heptathlete, long jumper and 2006 World Indoor champion pentathlete. She was given a lifetime ban from competition after failing a drug test at the 2008 Olympics, her second doping offense.

Life and career

Blonska practiced rhythmic gymnastics from age five to ten. She then switched to basketball and later judo and cycle racing. At age 14 she was introduced to athletics by a local coach.

In 1993, Blonska participated in the Ukrainian Youth Championships, in Odessa, entering the heptathlon competition for the first time. She recalls crying in fear before the 800m event, but then falling in love with it and heptathlon after scoring good results.

In 1995, after finishing school, Blonska moved to capital Kiev to begin training as member of the Ukrainian youth team. Five months later she received an invitation to study at the Institute of Sports and Physical Culture in Kharkiv. She found herself without a trainer and had to coach herself for a year and a half, while working at night to make ends meet.

In 1998, Blonska achieved 3rd place in the national championships with 5554 points and, in 1999, improved her personal best (PB) to 5765.

In 2000, Blonska graduated from the Kharkov Institute as trainer and teacher of physical culture and moved with fellow athlete Serhiy Blonskyy to Brovary. She became a mother the following year.

In May 2002, a year after becoming a mother, Blonska won the National Championship with a PB of 6039 and qualified for the European Championships in Munich. There she finished thirteenth and soon thereafter tested positive for steroids. She has said she was willing to appeal the IAAF's decision, but lacked the financial backing to do so. She served a two-year ban, before returning to the sport. In June 2004, she gave birth to her second child.

Blonska generally performed better after her ban than before it was imposed. She won the gold medal at the 2005 Universiade and finished fifth at the 2006 European Championships. She won the gold medal at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in the pentathlon.

Blonska's personal best heptathlon score is 6832 points, a Ukrainian record, achieved in August 2007 in Osaka where she won the silver medal. Just prior to the Beijing Olympics, she finished eighth in pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Blonska won silver in the women's heptathlon, but she was quickly disqualified and lost her medal after she tested positive for the anabolic steroid methyltestosterone. [cite news |title=Heptathlon medallist banned |url=http://sports.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/abc/Beijing2008/CP_cbc_beijing.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CBC-SPORTS-V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=heptathlon-blonska-ban |work=CBC Sports |publisher=Sympatico |accessdate=2008-08-30] She had qualified for the long jump final, but the International Olympic Committee decided to throw her out of the Games completely. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/athletics/7571867.stm|title=Blonska stripped of silver medal |date=2008-08-22|accessdate=2008-08-22|publisher=BBC] [PDF| [http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1359.pdf International Olympic Committee Decision regarding Liudmyla Blonska] |30.3 KB] As this was her second doping offence she was given a lifetime ban from competitive athletics. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/7589249.stm] cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2601787/Ukraine-athlete-Lyudmila-Blonska-stripped-of-heptathlon-silver-medal-for-doping.html|title=Ukraine athlete Lyudmila Blonska stripped of heptathlon silver medal for doping|publisher=The Telegraph|accessdate=2008-08-28]

ee also

* Doping at the Olympic Games
* List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
*

References

* [http://www.iaaf.org/news/athletes/newsid=46500.html Focus on Athletes - Lyudmyla Blonska] - IAAF.