Athletics-Russian hammer thrower Litvinov admits to doping in 2012

FILE PHOTO: Sergey Litvinov of Russia competes in the men's hammer throw final during the European Athletics Championships at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich August 16, 2014. REUTERS/Phil Noble

GENEVA (Reuters) - Former Russian hammer thrower Sergei Litvinov has admitted using banned substances and benefiting from his country's cover-up system as athletics authorities handed him a two-year suspension and voided his past results.

"I took doping in 2012 and took profit from the cover-up system in Russia," Litvinov, who no longer competes, wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday, a rare instance of an athlete admitting such an offence.