What’s the story?
Celebrated Indian long jump athlete, Anju Bobby George, who represented the country in the discipline at the Athens Olympics in 2004, might soon be awarded an Olympic silver medal. The Indian, along with a couple of other athletes, is attempting to launch an investigation into doping practices at the long jump event at the Athens Games in 2004.
In case you didn’t know...
The Kerala-born athlete made history as she became the first and only Indian athlete to win a medal at the World Track and Field Championships when she won a bronze at the event held in Paris in 2003.
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She also set the national long jump record with a 6.83m jump at the Athens Olympics which stands till date. This effort resulted in her finishing in 5th place at the event with Russian athletes taking the first three spots.
The heart of the matter
Anju, along with two other athletes, Bronwyn Thompson of Australia and the United Kingdom’s Jade Johnson, believe that a doping conspiracy was afoot in the 2004 Olympics when the Russians monopolised the long jump category.
The three Russian athletes in question, Tatyana Lebedeva, Irina Meleshina and Tatyana Kotova all failed doping tests at major world events which led to Lebedeva being stripped of her two silver medals at the Beijing Olympics, while Meleshina was given a two year ban in 2012 for using steroids which led to her missing out on the 2012 London Olympics.
Anju spoke to Sportskeeda about the developments saying, “We want what is rightfully ours, imagine at work somebody used unfair means to get ahead, you would react the same way. Similarly they used wrong ways to get ahead, and three of us will now ask for what is rightfully ours.
“I won't tell you the exact thing, but we have seen some questionable behaviour from them, with first-hand accounts which we will put forward to the necessary authority."
Adding that she saw some suspicious activity, she said, “I saw both of them drinking some liquid, which was weird to me as I was not handed that. So I thought it went through the tight security, but clearly, that was not the case."
What’s next?
As per international doping regulations, athletes’ blood and urine samples are supposed to be preserved for ten years before being destroyed. In spite of thirteen years having passed since the event, Anju Bobby George remains optimistic of getting what she believes is rightfully hers.
She and the two other athletes along with their respective countries’ Olympic Associations plan to take further action by appealing to the IOC.
Author’s Take
Russia’s state-sponsored doping practices were revealed to the international sporting fraternity after Russian officials admitted to institutional doping being widespread in Russian sport.
If this is indeed the case, the Russians should be stripped of their medals and these should then be awarded to the deserving athletes who have reached elite levels with integrity. We wish Anju Bobby George the best in her efforts to win back what was rightfully hers in the first place.
