The following year, she was initially awarded gold in the 200 m event at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest but was stripped of the title after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol.

She denied all knowledge of how it had happened, and during her two-year ban she vowed to work with the World Anti-Doping Agency to promote sports without drugs.

In May 2016, it was reported that Kapachinskaya was one of 14 Russian athletes, and nine medalists, implicated in doping following the retesting of urine from the 2008 Olympics.

If confirmed, under IOC and IAAF rules, Kapachinskaya stood to lose all results, medals and records from the date of the original test to May 2016.

In August 2016, Kapachinskaya and her relay teammates were officially stripped of their 2008 silver medal.