Former Russian middle-distance runner Ekaterina Guliyev (formerly Poistogova) has officially been stripped of her reallocated silver medal from the London 2012 Olympic Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed her appeal against a four-year doping ban.
In its ruling, CAS upheld the Athletics Integrity Unit’s (AIU) decision to disqualify all of Guliyev’s results from 17 July 2012 to 20 October 2014. The 34-year-old, who now represents Turkey, originally finished third in the Olympic women’s 800m final. She was upgraded to silver in 2017 following the disqualification of her Russian teammate Mariya Savinova for doping.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya was awarded gold, and Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo moved up to fourth place at the time.
Who will be awarded?
Following the latest development, Jelimo is now in line to receive the silver medal. Alysia Montaño of the United States will be elevated to bronze. This will mark the first Olympic medal for the U.S. in the women’s 800m since Kim Gallagher’s bronze at the 1988 Seoul Games.
World Athletics and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have initiated the process of officially updating the results.
“World Athletics’ Competition Department is disqualifying Guliyev’s results. It will notify the IOC that the relevant rankings have been amended on their website. The IOC may then proceed with reallocation of the Olympic medals. This will follow with the update of the IOC database,” the AIU confirmed.
Guliyev’s disqualification stems from evidence uncovered during the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s investigation into state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics. The AIU had announced in 2023 that all results of Ekaterina Guliyev between July 17, 2012, and October 20, 2014, would be annulled due to doping violations.
The athlete had already served a separate two-year suspension for a previous offens. She attempted to overturn the AIU’s decision but the CAS has now officially closed the door on her appeal.
