text: Jessica Ennis-Hill has begun communication with the IAAF in the aim of being rewarded with World Championship gold from 2011 after champion Tatyana Chernova was exposed as a drug cheat. In January Chernova was found to have provided a positive sample for a prohibited steroid at the 2009 World Championships. The Russian anti-doping agency issued a backdated ban and annulled her records from 15 August 2009 to 14 August 2011 – just 16 days before she beat Ennis by 129 points in the heptathlon in Daegu, South Korea. Tatyana Chernova (left) failed a drugs test two years before beating Jessica Ennis-Hill in South Korea in 2011 . Ennis-Hill believes it is unfair that Chernova was banned but allowed to keep her world title . Ennis-Hil has written to the  IAAF to ask shy Chernova has been allowed to keep her world title . Ennis-Hill, then the defending world champion, had to settle for silver. The following year the Brit took gold in memorable scenes at London 2012, with Chernova third. Chernova's ban is due to expire on June 21 – in time for this year’s World Championships in Beijing in August and, of course, the 2016 Olympics in Rio. ‘Obviously I'm not happy about how the ban has been handled,’ said Ennis-Hill. ‘I can’t really understand it myself. I've spoken to British Athletics and the IAAF and I am putting my faith to look into it a bit more. ‘I can't understand how that is fair. It's so frustrating – although frustration isn't a strong enough word, because you train hard for all those years and then people do things like that. It doesn't seem like she has served a ban. ‘I think we need to be strict and if you are cheating, you're out. I don't think you should be allowed to come back and keep your medals. It doesn't seem fair.’ Research carried out by the University of Oslo in October 2013 established that muscles can retain the advantages given by anabolic steroids for years, even decades after the moment at which they were taken. Ennis-Hill suggested she may have suspected Chernova but could not have allowed herself to think about anything other than her competition. ‘You might think things but you can't really say anything, you just get on with what you are doing and you can't cast aspersions until something comes out, really,’ she said. ‘That was a really funny competition for me because it was the year before the Olympics and I felt really ready. ‘I just thought I could win the gold medal, and I came away with a silver. So I was disappointed. I was thinking, “Is this how it will go into the Olympics?” ‘It gave me that extra push in a way, having that silver. But at the same time I could have been double world champion. It’s a weird one. But I definitely want that medal. We’ve had communications with the IAAF just to see how that ban works.’ Ennis-Hill praised the work done to uncover transgressions, such as the German documentary about institutionalised doping in Russia. But admitted it left a ‘dampener’ on the sport. Earlier this year Russia's athletics head coach Valentin Maslakov resigned after a number of athletes from the country were found guilty of committing doping offences. Chernova celebrates the gold medal she took ahead of Ennis-Hill a year before the London Olympic games . Ennis Hill (right) says the silver made her more determined to take gold at the Olympics, which she did . Ennis-Hill also criticised Nike's choice to sponsor two-time drugs cheat Justin Gatlin . ‘Hopefully things are being done about it and it won’t keep progressing on to years down the line,’ she added. Ennis-Hill also criticised Nike’s decision to award two-time drugs cheat Justin Gatlin a new sponsorship deal. ‘Again, frustrating more than anything,’ she said. ‘You see people cheating and they are rewarded for it down the line. I just don’t think it’s fair. At the same time you don’t want to get too wrapped up in it because I can’t control what sponsors do with athletes. But it’s hard to read stories like that.’ Jessica Ennis trains in the adidas Climachill apparel range designed with advanced fabric for maximum cooling, and the adidas Ultra Boost trainers. Both available at www.adidas.co.uk .
target: Jessica Ennis-Hill  second to Tatyana Chernova in 2011 Championships .
  Chernova has since been found to have failed a test in 2009 .
  She has been banned but her 2011 World Championship title still remains .