In 2016, Runner’s World and The Independent questioned whether this race was the dirtiest in history. Here are the original results, with the since-disqualified athletes crossed out:
Asli Çakir Alptekin(Türkiye) 4:10.23 (result stripped in 2015)Gamze Bulut(Türkiye) 4:10.40 (stripped in 2017)
1. Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain) 4:10.74Tatyana Tomashova(Russia) 4:10.90 (stripped in 2024)
2. Abeba Aregawi (Ethiopia) 4:11.03
3. Shannon Rowbury (USA) 4:11.26Natallia Kareiva(Belarus) 4:11.58 (stripped in 2014)
4. Lucia Klocová (Slovakia) 4:12.64Ekaterina Kostetskaya(Russia) 4:12.90 (stripped in 2014)
5. Lisa Dobriskey (Great Britain) 4:13.02
6. Laura Weightman (Great Britain) 4:15.60
7. Hellen Obiri (Kenya) 4:16.57
Morgan Uceny (USA) DNF
Aregawi, who later represented Sweden, tested positive for a banned substance in 2016, but her ban was lifted. At last month’s Olympic Games, she received her reallocated bronze medal, but now she’s in line to become the silver medalist.
Rowbury was on her way to the Galápagos Islands for a vacation when she received the news. She told Adam Kilgore, reporting for The Washington Post, that she began sobbing and shaking when she received the text from her agent.
“If my vacation is going to be interrupted, this is some of the best news I’ve had in many years,” Rowbury told Kilgore. “A lot of tears shed in the past leading up to it, but a lot of excitement. I thought justice would never get served. It feels like some good closure.”
The International Olympic Committee wrote in a statement to The Post that the reallocation of medals is not automatic. Should Rowbury receive the bronze medal, she will become the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in the 1500m. Jenny Simpson won bronze at the 2016 Games.
