The Dirtiest race in the running history

Double world 1500m champion, Tatyana Tomashova has been stripped off her 2012 London Olympic 1500m silver medals that she had been awarded after being moved up to second place of the Turkish duo Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut were disqualified.

The 49 year-old who was slapped with a 10-year doping ban in September this year, has had her result from London annulled.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had notified the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of the development following no appeal by the Russian athlete of the recent 10-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the Use of a Prohibited Substance/Method which is a violation of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA).

This ban includes the disqualification of Tomashova’s results from June 21, 2012 until January 3, 2015, including the silver medal which was awarded to her in 2018 after the first two finishers of the London 2012 final – Alptekin and Bulut – were disqualified for doping violations.

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The AIU said: “Tomashova’s sanction stemmed from AIU charges based on historical data, showing evidence of doping in Russian athletics, from the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) at the former Moscow Laboratory. The CAS was sitting as a First Instance tribunal in this case due to the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation (RAF) at the time. The tribunal’s decision was subject to appeal to the CAS Appeals Division, but CAS has confirmed no appeal has been filed by the athlete and the First Instance decision is therefore now final and binding.

Tomashova is the fifth of the 13 finalists in that 1500m final to have been suspended retroactively and had their result from the race disqualified. The 2004 Olympic 1500m silver medallist in the same event, was previously banned for two years and nine months in 2009 for tampering with the doping control process.

Tomashova will, however, keep her world 1500m titles from Paris 2003 and Helsinki 2005, plus the silver she won in the 1500m at the 2004 Olympics behind Britain’s Kelly Holmes.

“We are committed to protecting the integrity of athletics and, even when events have long passed, we will investigate potential violations fully,” AIU chair David Howman said in a statement.

Ethiopian-born Bahraini Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who finished third in London, was promoted to gold after Turkish duo Alptekin and Bulut, who finished first and second, were disqualified years later.

Tomashova’s disqualification means Ethiopia’s Abeba Aregawi now holds the silver medal and American Shannon Rowbury, who finished sixth, has been awarded the bronze.