Report: Russian Olympic runner paid $550K to cover up doping case

Three-time Chicago Marathon winner and Olympic runner Liliya Shobukhova reportedly paid the Russian athletics federation $550,000 to cover up a positive doping case.

Three-time Chicago Marathon winner and Olympic runner Liliya Shobukhova reportedly paid the Russian athletics federation $550,000 to cover up a positive doping case, according to the Associated Press. 

German television channel ARD and French sports daily L'Equipe reported that Shobukhova was able to compete in the 2012 Olympics despite violating doping rules in 2011 because of the cover-up.

In April, Shobukhova was banned for two years and stripped of her Chicago Marathon titles after "suspicious blood values in samples given for her biological passport" were found, according to the AP.

Other allegations of systematic doping in Russia were reported on Wednesday. Former Russian Anti-Doping Agency official Vitaly Stepanov told ARD that various Russian sports federations "would come to (Russian) doping control officers" offering "extra cash" to hush up positive tests, and accused the head of the national doping test laboratory of falsifying tests and selling banned substances. 

Doping was also linked to officials and athletes in other sports in Russia, including swimming, cycling, biathlon, weightlifting and cross-country skiing. 

The IAAF, the governing body of athletics, told the AP there is "already an on-going investigation by the IAAF Ethics Commission" into the allegations​ regarding Shobukhova.

Shobukhova competed in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and won the Chicago Maraton from 2009-11.

- Molly Geary