LAUSANNE: Russia’s Tatyana Tomashova has been given a 10-year ban after she was found to have violated anti-doping regulations at the 2012 Olympics, as the fallout from that Games’s shocking women’s 1,500 metres final continues.

Tomashova has also been stripped of her silver medal from that race, a medal she was given after initially finishing fourth after the first two finishers were later banned.

The 49-year-old Tomashova, a world champion in 2003 and 2005, was one of seven Russian female athletes to receive a two-year doping ban for manipulating their drug samples in 2008.

She returned to action but has been banned again after testing positive in 2021 for anabolic steroids in re-tests of her out-of-competition samples from June 21, 2012 and July 17, 2012, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Tuesday.

“Taking into account a previous ADRV committed by 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,” CAS said in a statement.

“The date of the CAS decision, as well as the disqualification of all competitive results obtained by Tomashova from June 21, 2012 until January 3, 2015, with all resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points and prize and appearance money.”

The London 2012 women’s 1,500m is often described as the dirtiest race in history, with six of the first nine finishers falling foul of anti-doping regulations either before or after it.

Turkish duo Asli Cakir Alptekin, who had previously served a two-year doping ban, and Gamze Bulut finished first and second but were disqualified several years later.

Ethiopian-born Bahraini Maryam Yusuf Jamal finished third but was then promoted to gold, with Tomashova, who finished fourth, getting the silver, despite her previous ban.

Now she has been stripped of that, shifting American Shannon Rowbury, who finished sixth, on to podium 12 years too late.

Two other athletes in the race were subsequently disqualified while Ethiopian-born Swede Abeba Aregawi also had an anti-doping violation but escaped a ban, allowing her to hold on to the bronze, now upgraded to silver.

Briton Lisa Dobriskey, after finishing 10th, famously complained after the race that she was not competing “on a level playing field... people will be caught eventually” — comments backed up by the fact that she is now listed as finishing fifth.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024