Former Olympic high-jump champion Ivan Ukhov one of five athletes to file appeals against WADA issued bans

Moscow: Five Russian track and field athletes, including former Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov, have filed appeals against doping bans which cost them key medals. [caption id=“attachment_6010651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ivan Ukhov celebrates winning a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Reuters[/caption] Russian track federation spokeswoman Natalia Yukhareva told The Associated Press that Ukhov and world champion high jumper Svetlana Shkolina filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, along with Lyukman Adams, Yekaterina Galitskaya and Yulia Kondakova. The five were among 12 Russians banned in earlier CAS hearings for steroid use in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics and 2013 world championships. Ukhov lost his Olympic gold medal, while Shkholina was stripped of a world title and Adams lost his 2014 world indoor triple jump gold medal. The bans were based on evidence from a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation into systematic doping and cover-ups in Russian sports. The rulings validated longstanding claims by Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, who said he oversaw a state-protected program that later tainted the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Yukhareva said the appeal list was final, which appears to rule out legal challenges from Tatyana Lysenko, a hammer thrower who lost her 2013 world championship medal, and the relay runner Tatyana Firova, who has lost two Olympic medals and two world championship medals in a string of doping cases against her and teammates.