Olympic Athlete Stripped of Medal After Infamous 'Dirtiest Race' Scandal

Multiple athletes were stripped of their Olympic medals after participating in what has been labelled as the 'dirtiest race in history'.

Back in 2012, the Olympic Games were held in London, England.

The event was a huge success for the home nation, with Team GB winning 29 golds, 18 silvers and 18 bronzes.

Team GB came third in the overall standings, behind China and Team USA.

However, the London Olympics will forever be marred by the women's 1500m final, which has seen several athletes receive bans due to allegedly taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Since that night in London, six of the top nine finishers have been hit with suspensions.

At the time, the race was originally won by Turkey's Asli Cakir Alptekin.

However, she was stripped of her title in 2015 after irregularities were found in her biological passport, and she received an eight-year ban from the Turkish Athletics Federation.

Asli Cakir Alptekin. Image: Getty

Fellow Turkish athlete Gamze Bulut finished second behind Alptekin, but also saw her silver medal taken off her in 2017 due to abnormal blood levels.

As a result, Bahrain's Maryam Yusuf Jamal was promoted to the gold medal position, having originally finished third in 2012.

Meanwhile, Russia's Tatyana Tomashova, who had initially finished fourth, was awarded the silver medal.

However, Tomashova's past also caught up with her in 2024, when she was handed a ten-year ban following a positive test for anabolic steroids.

After all the controversy, Jamal is now the gold medal winner, with Ethiopian runner Abeba Aregawi in silver position and Team USA's Shannon Rowbury third.

Meanwhile, Russia's Ekaterina Kostetskaya (seventh) and Belarusian Natallia Kareiva (ninth) also subsequently received bans.

Speaking after the race back in 2012, Team GB star Lisa Dobriskey said: "I’m very uncomfortable with that. I’m probably going to get in trouble for saying so, but I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field.

"I think these Games came too soon. People will be caught eventually."