The 'Dirtiest Race in Olympic History' Saw Five Athletes Disqualified

"I'll probably get into trouble for saying this, but I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field," said British athlete Lisa Dobriskey, shortly after the 1500m final at London 2012.

Dobriskey was suspicious, to say the least. The Kent-born runner finished 10th in the final behind names such as Asli Cakir Alptekin, Gamze Bulut and Russia’s Yekaterina Kostetskaya, who ended up in ninth.

"After the (2012) race I wanted to cry," Dobriskey said in 2016. "It should have been a joyous moment in front of my home crowd but I felt humiliated. I felt I had to apologise 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," she added. "It should be harder to cheat than back then but that doesn't seem to be the case."

It is a race that will go down as one of the dirtiest in Olympic history. In total, five runners have been disqualified from the 1500m final for retroactive doping offences, including the initial first, second, and fourth place finishers.

Almost a year ago, two-time world champion Tatyana Tomashova became the latest to be disqualified and was officially stripped of her women’s Olympic 1500m silver medal.

The Russian finished fourth in the infamous final and was moved up to second place after Turkish duo Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut had their results annulled in 2015 and 2017 due to blood doping violations.

But after Tomashova was hit with a 10-year drugs ban that was issued in September last year, the result from London was annulled.

The news was confirmed by the Athletics Integrity Unit, who said she had decided not to appeal against the ban imposed on her by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“Tomashova’s sanction stemmed from AIU charges based on historical data, showing evidence of doping in Russian athletics, from the Laboratory Information Management System at the former Moscow Laboratory,” an AIU statement said.

“The International Olympic Committee may now proceed with the reallocation of medals and the update of the IOC database.”

Maryam Yusuf Jamal originally won the bronze medal but was later upgraded to gold. Image credit: Getty

Those who have been banned from the race include Turkey's Asli Cakir Alptekin, who finished first, Gamze Bulut (2nd), Tatyana Tomasheva (4th), Natallia Kareiva (7th) and Yekaterina Kostetskaya (9th).