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Disgraced Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva has announced her retirement on Saturday in the wake of this week's Olympic Games drugs shame.
Pyleva decided to quit after testing positive for the banned substance carphedon and being stripped of the silver medal she won in the women's 15km race in Turin.
"I will not return," Pyleva, who flew home on Friday, told the press on Saturday.
"I had decided to finish my career after the Turin Olympics regardless of my results here but I could never have believed I would finish it that way."
"I'm ashamed and really upset. I'm so sorry for being in such a situation," she added.
"I beg all my fans, my entire country, to forgive me for the incident. I did not ever wish to put all of my previous achievements and wins in doubt by taking the banned drug."
Pyleva, 30, who was the first athlete to test positive at the Games, was hit with a two year ban after testing positive for carphedon which she claimed she had taken unknowingly in medication for a foot injury.
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AFP 181239 GMT 02 06
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