Corrupted Olympic Spectacle Causes Suffering for Germans
Corinna Harrer continues to feel wronged, viewing the 2012 Olympics as the most disappointing event for Germans in hindsight. With numerous competitors getting caught for doping, medals have been reallocated multiple times. Only a ceremony was held in Paris, which now appears outdated.
Thinking back on an Olympic final, it's hard to believe that so many athletes aren't participating. While the 100-meter men's final from the 1988 Seoul Games may be considered one of the dirtiest races in history, the 1500-meter women's race in London seems to give it a run for its money. If modern technology were used to detect doping, the race would likely be very different - and with fewer participants.
It turns out that six of the nine fastest runners in the race have since been caught for doping. Five of them were disqualified and banned, while one was stripped of her medal. "It's simply impossible to understand this race," commented someone who attended the event in 2017 to the "Süddeutschen Zeitung." Corinna Harrer, too, had an unfortunate encounter with this situation. More on that later.
A paper may be patient, but the results list changes constantly - and it can't truly reflect the unfair circumstances facing innocent athletes: On Tuesday, Russian Tatjana Tomaschowa was disqualified. Her result was erased, and her newly awarded silver medal was revoked by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Tomaschowa was banned for ten years for multiple doping offenses.
Doping offenders caught again
Tomaschowa, who finished fourth, directly benefited from the doping disqualifications of Turkish runners Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut. Cakir Alptekin took home the gold medal, with Tomaschowa receiving the silver. However, both Alptekin and Tomaschowa have a history of doping:
The Russian, who won silver in 2004, was previously banned for two years in 2008. In 2021, anabolic agents were detected in retests from 2012. Tomaschowa's results between June 21, 2012, and January 3, 2015, will be erased.
Cakir Alptekin, who tested positive for steroids in 2004 and was banned for two years, was caught doping again in 2013 using the biological passport. Her results from 2010 onwards were annulled, and she was banned for eight years. Among her titles, the Olympic gold, the 2012 European Championship title, and the bronze at the 2012 indoor world championships, all of which she obtained illegally.
Additionally, Natalia Kareiva from Belarus and Ekaterina Kostetskaya from Russia were disqualified and banned for doping. The question remains: Who is still participating in the Olympic final? After the disqualifications of the Turkish runners, Maryam Yusuf Jamal from Bahrain became the Olympic champion, receiving her gold medal only in December 2021. Following Tomaschova's disqualification, Abeba Aregawi from Ethiopia wins silver. Bronze goes to Shannon Rowbury from the USA, who finished sixth in the race on August 10, 2012. Rowbury celebrated her promotion to the podium on Instagram with three crying emojis.
The current podium is not without controversy. Aregawi, who has competed for Sweden since late 2012, tested positive for heart medication Meldonium in 2016. Her ban was lifted only a few months later due to changes in WADA's regulations. Other athletes criticized this decision. Aregawi, who won the world championships in 2013 and the indoor world championships in 2014, stopped competing after the controversy. She is currently considered an official doping offender because of the regulations.
What does Corinna Harrer have to do with this? The German runner was negatively impacted by all the cheating. She qualified for the semifinals and narrowly missed the final by 23 hundredths of a second. It is now clear that she would have made it to the final if it weren't for the dopers. "No words...Twelve years later, this topic still bothers me," she wrote on Instagram.
In 2017, she told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung": "I should have run in the final, and without doping - who knows how it would have turned out. Ultimately, I believe that in a clean final, everyone would have had a chance. That chance was taken from me." 2012 was the best year of her career because the final was significantly slower than the heats, and she could have competed at the front. Not only was she denied a potential medal, but the dopers also cost her a significant amount of money. She estimated her financial loss to be at least 30,000 euros. "As a finalist, I would have certainly attracted some sponsors, or the ones I had would have increased their contributions. I would have received more money from the sports aid, and I could have financed my physiotherapist and trainer at the training camps, not just 200 euros per year. That would have made a big difference," said Harrer.
British athlete Lisa Dobriskey, who initially placed tenth but later moved up to fifth, expressed her skepticism — even voicing it to the athletics federation. She inquired, "I reached out and questioned how someone could run faster post-cheating," she shared with the "Independent" in 2017. Unfortunately, her concerns didn't shake things up. The event, hailed as the dirtiest race since 1988, went down in history.
Doping violations have marred more than just the careers of Harrer, Rowbury, Dobriskey, and their peers. Athletes like Aregawi and nine others from the '00 Sydney, '08 Beijing, and '12 London Games encountered an unusual situation during the Paris Olympics: they received their delayed medals, some after a 24-year wait. In the heart of Paris, with a large audience watching, a small gesture of reparation was made to the affected athletes in athletics and weightlifting. In Aregawi's case, it was quite humorous: she was initially awarded a bronze medal, but only three weeks later, she earned a silver.
Despite the ceremony held in Paris, many athletes still feel cheated due to doping violations. Corinna Harrer, for instance, missed the final of the 2012 London Games by a narrow margin, potentially earning a medal if not for the doping offenders.
Following numerous doping offenses, several athletes from the 1500-meter women's race in London had their results changed or revoked, including Tatjana Tomaschowa and Asli Cakir Alptekin.
