It’s all over for Tatyana Tomashova with regards her Olympic medal from London 2012. The disgraced Russian finished fourth in the infamous 1500m final at those Games but was moved up to second place after Turkish duo Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut were disqualified.
However, following a 10-year drugs ban that was issued in September this year, Tomashova’s result from London has now been annulled.
The Athletics Integrity Unit says it has notified the International Olympic Committee of the development following no appeal by the Russian athlete of the recent 10-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport “for the Use of a Prohibited Substance/Method”.
This ban includes the disqualification of Tomashova’s results from June 21, 2012 until January 3, 2015, including the silver medal which was awarded to her in 2018 after the first two finishers of the London 2012 final – Alptekin and Bulut – were disqualified for doping violations.
The AIU said: “Tomashova’s sanction stemmed from AIU charges based on historical data, showing evidence of doping in Russian athletics, from the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) at the former Moscow Laboratory. The CAS was sitting as a First Instance tribunal in this case due to the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation at the time. The tribunal’s decision was subject to appeal to the CAS Appeals Division, but CAS has confirmed no appeal has been filed by the athlete and the First Instance decision is therefore now final and binding.
“Therefore, World Athletics and the AIU have proceeded with the next steps: having the World Athletics’ competition department disqualify Tomashova’s results and thereafter notifying the IOC that World Athletics has modified the relevant results and rankings on their website. The IOC may now proceed with the reallocation of medals and the update of the IOC database.”
Tomashova is the fifth of the 13 finalists in that 1500m final to have been suspended retroactively and had their result from the race disqualified. The 49-year-old, a two-time world champion and 2004 Olympic silver medallist in the same event, was previously banned for two years and nine months in 2009 for tampering with the doping control process.
Tomashova will, however, keep her world 1500m titles from Paris 2003 and Helsinki 2005, plus the silver she won in the 1500m at the 2004 Olympics behind Britain’s Kelly Holmes.
In Paris in 2003 she finished ahead of another doper, Süreyya Ayhan of Turkey, plus Britain’s Hayley Tullett. Many observers, therefore, will feel Tullett was unfortunate not to be crowned world champion that year.
In Helsinki in 2005, Tomashova beat another two convicted dopers, Olga Yegorova of Russia, Bouchra Ghezielle of France and Yelena Soboleva of Russia, to gold with fifth-placed Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain the first athlete home who did not fail a drugs test during her career.
Jamal was also subsequently crowned Olympic champion from the London 2012 Games as she finished third in the 1500m final.
“The AIU is pleased to conclude another LIMS case and ensure athletes who competed cleanly are acknowledged as the rightful medal winners. We are committed to protecting the integrity of athletics and, even when events have long passed, we will investigate potential violations fully,” said AIU chair David Howman.
“I believe this outcome will still be meaningful for those who are justly recognised as a consequence.”
Source: AW
