The Russian 2012 Olympic champion and double world champion, Tatyana Beloborodova, is provisionally suspended for doping

Russia's Olympic and double world hammer throw champion Tatyana Beloborodova (née Lysenko) has been provisionally suspended, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has confirmed, pending an investigation into a positive drugs test.

Beloborodova won the 2011 and 2013 World Championship hammer titles either side of claiming Olympic gold in London four years ago, at which she threw an Olympic record distance of 78.18m.

Russian media broke the news of Beloborodova's suspension on Monday, stating that she had returned a positive test retrospectively from the 2005 World Championships where she claimed the silver medal behind Cuba's Yipsi Moreno. The IAAF did not confirm this.

The 32-year-old hammer thrower was previously suspended for two years from 2007-2009 after testing positive for a banned substance and potentially faces an even lengthier ban if found to be guilty of a second offence. During this time Beloborodova had a world record throw disqualified.

She also faces being stripped of her 2006 European title if found guilty.

The news of the hammer thrower's suspension places further pressure on Russia after the country was banned from international competition indefinitely in November after a World Anti-Doping Agency report declared they had been operating a doping programme of a state-sponsored nature.

IAAF president Seb Coe confirmed at an IAAF Council meeting in March that Russia was still unfit for reinstatement and that a decision on the country's immediate future, and thus their Olympic participation, would be made at the next IAAF Council meeting in May.