Weightman calls for more education on doping after London 2012 fall-out

A top-eight finish in an Olympic final should be the pinnacle of any athlete's career with the eyes of the world on you, but for Laura Weightman all it consisted of was a certificate in the post. Weightman originally finished 11th in the women's 1500m final at London 2012 but was upgraded to seventh after four athletes were found to have doped including the two Turkish runners who originally claimed gold and silver. Ad/> Now the middle-distance star is backing UK Anti-Doping's Clean Sport Week to increase education on doping and its devastating implications.

AthleticsOver half of Brits put off sport by stories of doping23/05/2022 AT 14:05 «There was a lot of suspicion around the Turkish athletes, in particular, and alleged doping allegations,» the 30-year-old said. «It did take quite a long time, unfortunately, for those athletes to be caught. The gold medalist was caught in 2013, but it actually took a number of years for the other athletes in the race to be caught.

»I think it took about four or five years for me to get a certificate to say I finished seventh. I remember, it just turned up in the post one year, and I wasn't expecting it. «I hadn't quite realised, actually, that the official process had been done and all the athletes had received their bans, and the results had actually been changed.» Weightman's teammate back in 2012, Lisa Dobriskey raised the alarm that the race was not competed on a ‘level playing field' immediately after the race, as she moved from 10th to sixth in the official standings.