Russian middle-distance runner Tatyana Tomashova was on Tuesday stripped of the silver medal she won in the women's 1500m event at the London Olympic Games 2012. (More Sports News)
Tomashova, now 49, has also been banned for 10 years. The sanctions came after a failed doping test in 2021.
Tomashova tested positive for anabolic steroids in re-tests of her out-of-competition samples from June 21, 2012 and July 17, 2012, said the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Full statement
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the arbitration procedure between World Athletics (WA) (formerly the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF)) and the Russian middle-distance runner Tatyana Tomashova (the Athlete) concerning the re-tests of out-of-competition doping controls that the Athlete underwent on (i) 21 June 2012 and (ii) 17 July 2012 (the 2012 Samples) which were established by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in December 2021 to contain substances (anabolic steroids) prohibited on the 2012 World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. The Sole Arbitrator in charge of the matter found to her comfortable satisfaction that Ms Tomashova committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) in relation to the 2012 Samples through violations of Rule 2.2 of the 2021 WA Anti-Doping Rules (WA ADR) (Use or Attempted Use of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method). Turning to the sanction, taking into account a previous ADRV committed by Ms Tomashova in 2008, the Sole Arbitrator determined the appropriate sanction applicable to multiple ADRVs to be the imposition of a ten-year period of ineligibility, commencing on this day, the date of the CAS decision, as well as the disqualification of all competitive results obtained by Ms Tomashova from 21 June 2012 until 3 January 2015, with all resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points and prize and appearance money. The CAS acted as first instance decision-making authority for this matter, substituting for the Russian Athletics Federation, currently suspended by WA.
The race and the aftermath
Held from 6 to 10 August at London's Olympic Stadium, the women's 1500m gained notoriety after five of the first nine finishers in the final failed to meet anti-doping regulations.
Turkish duo of Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut finished first and second, with timings of 4:10.23 seconds and 4:10.40, respectively. They were joined by Maryam Yusuf Jamal (4:10.74) of Bahrain on the podium.
Tatyana Tomashova (4:10.900), Abeba Aregawi (4:11.03) of Ethiopia, Shannon Rowbury (4:11.26) of United States of America, Natallia Kareiva (4:11.58) of Belarus, Lucia Klocova (4:12.64) of Slovakia, Ekaterina Kostetskaya (4:12.90) of Russia and Lisa Dobriskey (4:13.02) of Great Britain completed the top 10. Laura Weightman (4:15.60) Great Britain and Hellen Onsando Obiri (4:16.57) of Kenya, finished 11th and 12th while United States' Morgan Uceny did not finish the race.
Note: Tatyana Tomashova, who had served a ban of more than two years for manipulating samples before a doping test prior to the 2012 Games, was given silver following the ban of Maryam Yusuf Jamal and Gamze Bulut.
Now banned: Asli Cakir Alptekin, Gamze Bulut, Tatyana Tomasheva, Natallia Kareiva, Ekaterina Kostetskaya.
Updated medal winners: Maryam Yusuf Jamal (gold medal), Abeba Aregawi (silver) and Shannon Rowbury (United States).
Reactions now and then
Soon after the race, Lisa Dobriskey had told reporters that "I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field... People will be caught eventually, I think. Fingers crossed, anyway."
Later, in 2016, she told The Independent: “The most upsetting thing is that, when you take 1988 [Ben Johnson case], I just felt our sport had moved on so much more... It should be harder to cheat than back then but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
“I remember after the race, I wanted to cry and I needed to get out of the stadium. It should have been a joyous moment in front of my home crowd but I felt humiliated. I just wanted the ground to swallow me up. I felt I had to apologise for my performance to my family and friends. I felt I’d let people down.”
Following Tomashova's ban, Dobriskey's former teammate Weightman took to social media platform as per BBC.
"11th to 6th in the years since the London 2012 final. Hard to comprehend," Weightman said on Instagram. "I'll always be proud of my career and showing what is possible running clean."
So far more than 40 medals have been stripped due to doping violations from the London Games.
