Turkey’s Asli Cakir Alptekin will lose her 2012 Olympic 1500m gold medal for doping and serve an eight-year ban, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Monday.
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Cakir-Alptekin, who had previously been cleared by the Turkish Athletic Federation (TAF), will now relinquish the 1500-metre gold medals she won at the Olympic Games and European Championships in 2012.
Turkish middle-distance runner Asli Cakir Alptekin has been banned for eight years and stripped of her London 2012 1,500m title after a second doping offence.
Last week, the IAAF announced it was suspending 28 athletes as a result of suspicious findings in doping tests. The IAAF found irregularities in her biological passport, which monitors doping over time, and appealed to the CAS.
She has not raced competitively since being provisionally suspended by IAAF in January 2013.
Alptekin won Olympic gold in London ahead of her compatriot Gamze Bulut and Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain.
Russian Tatyana Tomashova, who initially missed out on a podium finish after coming fourth, could be retrospectively given bronze. The eight-year ban is a maximum punishment for a second offense. Tomashova has been withdrawn from the Russian national team that is competing at the IAAF World Championships starting this weekend, according to ARD TV.
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During the case, Alptekin first argued that her blood readings were caused by “living and training at altitude, use of altitude-simulating techniques, and/or medical issues”, the CAS ruling stated.
