The Athletics Integrity Unit announced this Tuesday, November 19, the very late disqualification of the Russian athlete, accused of doping, from the Olympic 1,500 meters final in London in 2012. In twelve years, she is the fifth participant in this race to receive such a sanction.
Lisa Dobriskey was right. In 2012, a few minutes after failing to finish in tenth place in the 1,500 meter final at the Olympic Games, the English athlete expressed to journalists her anger and her doubts about the integrity of her opponents. “I’m probably going to get in trouble for saying this, but I don’t think I’m competing on a level playing field. I think people will get caught eventually. In any case, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”she declared. Twelve years later, the British media described the Olympic final as “the dirtiest race in history”. And this is not likely to get better, because the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced this Tuesday, November 19, the disqualification of Russian runner Tatyana Tomashova, accused of doping, and the withdrawal of her medal. money, which she had won after the banishment of some of her opponents.
Now aged 49, Tatyana Tomashova received a ten-year ban at the beginning of September handed down retrospectively by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for violation of anti-doping rules. All of its results obtained between 2012 and 2015 were therefore canceled. It remained for the AIU to ratify this decision by withdrawing her charm from the native of Perm, in the Urals, already suspended for two years in 2008, before the Beijing Olympic Games. It is now done. “We are committed to protecting the integrity of athletics and, even when events have long passed, we will fully investigate potential violationssaid IAU President David Howman in a statement. I think this decision will always make sense to those who will be rightly honored as a result..»
Cursed Race
Of the thirteen athletes who started the cursed London race in the summer of 2012, five have now been disqualified for doping. Thus the Turkish Asli Cakir Alptekin, who came first and was targeted in 2017 by a lifetime suspension pronounced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport following several positive tests. Her compatriot Gamze Bulut, second on the finish line, was also subsequently excluded, as was the Belarusian Natallia Kareiva and the Russian Yekaterina Kostetskaya.
These decisions caused many changes to the ranking of the Olympic final, notably benefiting Bahraini athlete Maryam Yusuf Jamal, a late gold medalist. Fourth on the finish line, Tatyana Tomashova climbed two places to take second place on the podium. Twelve years later, the final table of the race will change again. With the disqualification of the Russian, silver now goes to the Swede Abeba Aregawi, born in Ethiopia, and bronze to the American Shannon Rowbury. As for the British Lisa Dobriskey, disappointed tenth at the finish, she is now fifth.
Morocco
