The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show Shannon Rowbury In Line For Historic Olympic Bronze Medal Upgrade From The 2012 Olympics + Her Hopes For The Sport Moving Forward
“It was an overwhelming feeling of emotion. I had put London in a box in the corner of my heart, had shielded it up, stored it away. In the weeks since, it's been trying to unpack a lot of those feelings and the gratitude that 12 years later, there’s actually justice coming.”
Russian middle-distance runner Tatyana Tomashova may be stripped of her 2012 Olympic 1500m silver medal after being found guilty of a second anti-doping violation and being banned for 10 years. American Shannon Rowbury, who originally finished sixth in the 1500m Olympic final at the London Olympics, may receive the bronze medal after three women ahead of her have been disqualified for anti-doping offenses.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced an arbiter determined Tomashova is now banned for 10 years and lost all her results from June 21, 2012 to Jan. 3, 2015 after her out-of-competition drug test samples from June 2012 and July 2012 were re-tested and come back positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Tomashova initially finished fourth in the 1500m final at the London Olympics.
Turkey’s Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut, who were the original 1500m Olympic gold and silver medalists, have also been disqualified for doping. Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal has been upgraded from bronze to gold. Tomashova was upgraded to silver. Abeba Aregawi was moved up from fifth place to bronze.
Rowbury would be upgraded from fourth to bronze. This would have been the second global championship medal for Rowbury in her career after her 2009 World Championship 1500m bronze medal and would have made her the first American woman to medal in the 1500m at the Olympic Games.
You can read all about the case here: https://citiusmag.com/articles/tatyana-tomashova-will-lose-2012-olympic-medal-after-doping-ban
Time Stamps:
4:09 - Initial reactions after learning she will be upgraded to 1500m bronze from the 2012 Olympics.
10:11 - Finding out the news during the Paris Olympics.
12:45 - Memories associated with London following the 2012 Olympics: 2017 Worlds, getting engaged, upcoming vacation.
14:44 - Rewatching the full race for the first time only a few weeks ago.
17:43 - How she set goals for the 2012 London Olympics.
23:45 - Letting go of doping suspicions towards competitors at the Olympics.
27:16 - The balance between advocating for clean sport and being suspicious of potential dopers.
30:00 - Breaking down the 2012 Olympic 1500m final.
39:03 - Thoughts after finishing the race.
44:55 - Improving the protocol for alerting athletes about competitors being banned.
51:18 - Recapping the final few years of her pro career.
57:57 - What she likes and dislikes about marathon training.
1:01:02 - Choosing to be optimistic about the sport.
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