By Aaior K. Comfort
Former Russian athlete Tatyana Tomashova has been stripped of her 2012 Olympic silver medal in the 1500m event due to doping violations, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Tuesday. Tomashova, now 49, was sanctioned following the reanalysis of two out-of-competition tests conducted on June 21 and July 17, 2012, which detected the presence of anabolic steroids.
In addition to losing her Olympic medal, Tomashova has been handed a 10-year ban. This is her second doping-related suspension, following a two-year ban she served in 2008.
Tomashova originally finished fourth in the 1500m final at the London Olympics. However, she was later upgraded to silver after the disqualification of Turkish athletes Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut, who were stripped of their medals for doping. As a result of these disqualifications, Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who originally finished third, was awarded the gold medal.