Today is Sunday, August 17th, 2025 and on this day in 2015, Turkish runner Asli Cakir Alptekin was finally stripped of the gold medal she had cheated her way to winning at the women's 1,500m final at the 2012 London Olympics.

In this episode, we will learn more about Alptekin and the FIVE other women who finished in the top 9 of that race (which has been called the dirtiest in track history) who eventually tested positive for banned substances, plus hear about the British athlete who initially received flack for calling out the doping, but was eventually vindicated.

This episode was edited and produced by my friend Rob Garcia, who many of y'all may know by his own podcast "Rob on the Run". If you are looking to get into the podcasting or YouTube space and need some help on the technical production side, I could not recommend Rob more highly. You can email him at [email protected]

And as always, if you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to like and subscribe, then connect with me on social media, or email me at [email protected]

Bibliography:

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/7921579/European-Athletics-Championships-2010-Lisa-Dobriskey-loses-out-to-a-former-drug-cheat.html
• https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/british-athlete-hints-at-foul-play-in-turkeys-gold-27583
• https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174101/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2008/ATH/womens-1500-metres.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/apr/26/dirtiest-race-in-olympic-history-womens-1500m-london-2012
• https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/articles/cewlqxkn5x8o
• https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/shannon-rowbury-2012-olympics-1500-meters-medal
• https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/sport/shannon-rowbury-london-2012-olympics-spt-intl
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/apr/26/dirtiest-race-in-olympic-history-womens-1500m-london-2012
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/feb/29/abeba-aregawi-1500m-sweden-suspended
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/7679893.stm
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/10036563/London-Olympic-1500m-champion-Asli-Cakir-Alptekin-facing-life-ban-after-doping-charge.html
• https://athleticsweekly.com/news/elvan-abeylegesse-gamze-bulut-sanctions-announced-by-iaaf-59374/