ISTANBUL, Turkey — The Turkish Athletics Federation cleared Olympic champion Asli Cakir Alptekin of doping violations Thursday following an investigation.
The federation said it found no violations of doping rules by last year’s 1,500-meter gold medallist .
The probe was prompted by an IAAF request early this year that Turkey investigate Alptekin, who it said had abnormal blood values in her biological profile.
The IAAF can appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Two-time European 100-meter hurdles champion Nevin Yanit was also investigated and later banned from competition for two years.
Doping scandals in Turkey this year may have hurt Istanbul’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics, won by Tokyo. During the bid, Turkey maintained that the spate of doping cases were proof that the country was working hard to stamp out cheating in sports.
