The jubilant winner of the 1500 meters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games saw her Olympic dreams dashed by cheating and she couldn’t wait to watch the Paris Games this year.
Lisa Dobrisky was a bubbly athlete with the world at her feet when she first burst onto the international athletics scene with a surprise Commonwealth 1500m victory in 2006. Such was the shock and excitement of her winning gold at the Melbourne Games that she even forgot to do a lap of honour. :
When the 22-year-old leapt headlong into the mixed media lane after her race at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, seasoned sports reporters who knew nothing about her were quick to ask: AW: Who on earth was he and where did he come from?” he told them with a broad grin. “It’s a real honor to succeed Kelly Holmes as champion. Kelly is a Kent girl like me.”
Dobrisky, now 40, has bitter and angry memories of the sport and couldn’t even bring herself to watch the Paris Olympics on TV this year, largely because of the bruises from the 2012 London Olympics, when she finished 10th.th In the 1500 m final with five female athletes ahead of her – the last one is Tatiana Tomashova – later getting a drug ban.
It is hardly a surprise for many. A few minutes after finishing the race in London, Dobrisky told the press that he did not believe he was competing on a level playing field. Dobrisky told The Times this month, reflecting on those games in London 12 years ago. “I knew my sport so well and I knew what I was saying, sound and true.”
Late in the evening after the now-infamous London 2012 final, I wrote an online blog, “Turkish Delight or Suspicion?” referring to a couple of Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut bragging at the post-race press conference; “We came here to take gold and silver. This is Turkish power.”
Asli Chakir Alptekin (Mark Shearman)
The article struck a chord with readers and became one of our most popular posts of the Games. Despite social media being in its relative infancy, British miler Anthony Wightman called the race “embarrassing”, while London Olympian Nick McCormick described the women’s 1500m as “dead”.
Before London, Chakir Alptekin had already served a two-year doping ban as a teenager, while Bulut only improved his 1500m PB by 17 seconds in 2012. “I had six tests in one month, before and after the race.” , – said Alptekin, listening to Dobrisky’s accusations. “I don’t care what he says. These statements only reflect him individuality”.
Dobrisky said about the impossibility of watching the Olympic Games in Paris this summer The Times“I just can’t. It hurts so much. I didn’t want to stop running,” she says. Now 2012 is almost comical. I was fifth, but I never finished fifth.
“After everything I’d been through, I would have gone to watch the medal ceremony, I would have gone to see Mo (Farah) race, I would have been absorbed in it all, but I just wanted to run and hide. I didn’t want to be near that stadium. I mourn when I think about the crowd in the heats, it’s just phenomenal, but I’m trying to write off the final and pretend it didn’t happen.”
Lisa Dobrisky (Mark Shearman)
Early in his career, Dobrisky always seemed to run with a smile on his face. He began dating international 800m runner Ricky Suss, and the duo became known as the “Gorgeous and Becks” of British Athletics. Today, he works as a Pilates instructor in Arizona and clearly has bad memories about distance running.
In addition to the Turkish one-two and Tomasova, Belarus’ Natalya Kareiva and Russia’s Ekaterina Kostetskaya were later disqualified in the London Olympic 1500m.th to 6th. Mariam Youssef Jamal of Bahrain, who finished third in the race, is now considered the champion.
The women’s 1500m at London 2012 has been called the “dirtiest race in history”, but there are many other contenders for this dubious honor since then.For example, Dobrisky finished fourth in the Olympic 1500m final in Beijing that day one, Ukrainian Natalya Tobias, was later banned for using testosterone drugs, though his 2008 result stood.
“I’ve never, ever gotten over it,” says Dobrisky. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it. It kills me inside.”
Lisa Dobrisky (Mark Shearman)
Tobias wasn’t the only cheater in the 2008 Olympic 1500m either, as Ukraine’s Anna Mishchenko and Russia’s Anna Alminova were later disqualified for doping in that race.
Meanwhile, runner-up Tomasova and fourth-placed Natalia Evdokimova of Russia in the 2004 Olympic 1500m in Athens, as well as Bulgaria’s Daniela Yordanova, Elvan Abeilegese (Turkey) and Olga Yegorova (Russia) all served career drug bans.
Leave aside Dobriskie about Haley Talet, who finished third in the 1500m world finals in Paris in 2003, behind Tomasova and another drug kingpin, Turkey’s Sureya Ayhan. is the world champion, but did he get it? is fame and rewards befitting such a feat.
At least Dobrisky managed to win a world medal, silver at the 2009 world championships, although it’s fair to say the bad experiences outweighed the good from an era of middle-distance running that in hindsight was rotten to the core.
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