ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Former European 100m hurdles champion Nevin Yanit was handed a two-year suspension by the Turkish Athletics Federation (TAF) after testing positive for banned substances, they announced yesterday.

The 2010 and 2012 continental champion had already been suspended along with compatriot and 1500m Olympic champion Asli Cakir Alptekin, while 31 other Turkish athletes were suspended on the eve of the recent World Championships in Moscow.

Nevin Yanit finished fifth at the 2012 Olympics and won the European 60m indoor title earlier this year at Gothenburg.

“The IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) had informed us that Nevin Yanit’s sample taken at the event in Dusseldorf on Feb. 8 tested positive for a banned substance,” read a Federation statement.

“After her B sample also tested positive, the Disciplinary Board asked for Yanit’s defence and decided to ban the athlete for two years following deliberations,” continued the statement.

She had already been banned from the upcoming Mediterranean Games by the TAF over continued suspicions about doping.

Alptekin, who caused a huge surprise with her Olympic triumph faces a lifetime ban as she has already served a two-year suspension for doping in 2004 and the IAAF has confirmed she will be stripped of her title if found guilty.

Her compatriot Gamze Balut finished second in the Olympic final with Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain coming home third and Russia’s Tatyana Tomashova fourth and now in a potential position to move up to bronze.

A decision on Alptekin is pending.

The Turkish capital of Istanbul is a candidate for the 2020 Summer Olympics along with Madrid and Tokyo, with the International Olympic Committee set to announce the host city on September 7 in Buenos Aires.