WROCLAW, POLAND – OCTOBER 26: Tatiana Kashirina from Russia lifts in the Clean & Jerk competition women’s +75 kg Group A during weightlifting IWF World Championships Wroclaw 2013 at Centennial Hall in Wroclaw on October 26, 2013 (Photo by Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images)

Russia’s five-time world champion weightlifter and Olympic medallist Tatiana Kashirina has been temporarily suspended for an anti-doping rule violation.

Kashirina, who won silver at the 2012 Olympics and five gold medals at the world championships between 2010 and 2018, was one of the favourites for a gold medal at next year’s Tokyo Games.

According to Russian news agency, TASS, Kashirina, 29, was suspended after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took results of doping tests of Russian athletes between 2012 and 2015 from the Moscow Laboratory during an investigation.

She previously served a two-year suspension from 2006-08 for violating anti-doping rules and her latest ban will prevent her from competing during the Games qualification period which runs until April 2021.

Kashirina would have had to compete as a neutral as Russian athletes remain barred from major international events, including the Olympics, under the country’s flag until 2022.

A Swiss court upheld doping sanctions on Russia this week but halved the original four-year WADA ban.

Reuters/NAN