Tatyana Tomashova banned: Runner in 2012 ‘dirtiest race’ gets 10-year ban

When British athlete Lisa Dobriskey finished 10th in the women’s 1500m final at London 2012, she did not hold back.

“I don’t believe I’m competing on a level playing field,” she told the BBC at the time.

The race has been described as the dirtiest in history, with six of the first nine finishers falling foul of anti-doping regulations, the latest being Tatyana Tomashova.

The Russian middle-distance runner, now 49, was on Tuesday stripped of the silver medal she won in that event, as well as being banned from the sport for 10 years.

She was sanctioned 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.

Dobriskey’s British team-mate Laura Weightman finished 11th in the race 12 years ago but that has risen to sixth as a result of others having their results removed.

“11th to 6th in the years since the London 2012 final. Hard to comprehend,” Weightman said on Instagram following the news of Tomashova’s ban.

“I’ll always be proud of my career and showing what is possible running clean.”

Two-time world champion Tomashova, who had also received a doping ban in 2008, originally finished fourth in the 1500m final but that was upgraded after Turkish runners Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut lost their medals for doping.

Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal won the gold medal, despite crossing the line third behind Cakir Alptekin and Bulut.

Tomashova’s punishment means Dobriskey will now be elevated to a fifth-place finish in the race.

In a 2016 interview,, external she recalled how difficult it had been to see Cakir Alptekin celebrate her victory at the time.

“I stood there and saw her embark on a lap of honour and knew she’d cheated,” she said.

“We were down to watch the last day but that included the 1500m medal ceremony and I didn’t want to be there. I couldn’t be there when that was happening.”

Ethiopian-born Swede Abeba Aregawi, who also had an anti-doping violation in 2016 but escaped a ban, only received her reallocated bronze medal in a special ceremony at the Paris Olympics last month.

That medal will now be upgraded to silver.