Dust Settles On Dirtiest Race In History

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British athlete Lisa Dobriskey finished 10th in the 1500 metre Olympic finals in 2012 – and immediately told reporters that she did not believe the race was fair.

She complained that she was ‘not competing on a level playing field’ and hinted that her rivals had enhanced their performances.

Five years later, the dust is finally settling on what has become known as the ‘dirtiest race in history’.

How they finished

This is how the field finished:

  1. Asli Cakir Alptekin (Turkey) – Served a two-year doping ban prior to winning, suspended for four years after the race and now named for life for offending again
  2. Gamze Bulet (Turkey) – Serving a four-year doping ban
  3. Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain) – Never failed a dope test
  4. Tatyana Tomashova (Russia) – Served a two-year ban prior to the 2012 Olympics
  5. Abeba Aregawi (Ethiopia) – Banned then reinstated after testing positive
  6. Shannon Rowbury (USA) – Never failed a dope test
  7. Natallia Kareiva (Belarus) – Banned in 2014 for biological passport issues and her result in this race was voided
  8. Lucia Klocova (Slovakia) – Never failed a dope test
  9. Ekaterina Kostetskaya (Russia) – banned for two years in 2014 for violating IAAF doping rules at the 2011 World Championships.
  10. Lisa Dobriskey (Great Britain) – Never failed a dope test

Alptekin was stripped of her Olympic title.

Shame of champion

“We are never, ever going to allow doping,” said Turkish Athletics Federation chief Fatah Centime.

Alptekin served a two-year ban following a positive dope test at the 2004 World Junior Championships.

She finished 11th in the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country event in Portugal in February, but has been banned again following another failed test, but the details remain sealed.

After the Olympic 2012 1500 metre final, Dobriskey said: “I’ll probably get into trouble for saying this, but I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field.

“After the (2012) race I wanted to cry. It should have been a joyous moment in front of my home crowd but I felt humiliated. I felt I had to apologize for my performance to my family and friends.

“The most upsetting thing is that I just felt our sport had moved on so much more from 1988. It should be harder to cheat than back then but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
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