2012 European Athletics Championships – Women's 1500 metres

The women's 1500 metres at the 2012 European Athletics Championships were held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 30 June and 1 July.

The dirtiest race in history

In this race, the first four classified were disqualified for doping, meaning the medals went to the athletes who reached the finish line in 5th to 7th place.[1]

On 25 February 2016, the IAAF announced that Mischenko, the silver medal winner, had been found to have irregularities in her biological passport. She was banned from competition for two years until 17 August 2017, and all her results since June 28, 2012 were deleted from the records, including the silver medal won in this event. [2]

After the disqualifications, Nuria Fernández of Spain was declared the winner of the event.

Medalists

Gold	Nuria Fernández  Spain
Silver	Diana Sujew  Germany
Bronze	Tereza Čapková  Czech Republic

Records

Standing records prior to the 2012 European Athletics Championships
World record	Qu Yunxia (CHN)	3:50.46	Beijing, China	11 September 1993
European record	Tatyana Kazankina (URS)	3:52.47	Zürich, Switzerland	13 August 1980
Championship record	Tatyana Tomashova (RUS)	3:56.91	Gothenburg, Sweden	13 August 2006
World Leading	Abeba Aregawi (ETH)	3:56.54	Rome, Italy	31 May 2012
European Leading	Svetlana Podosyonova (RUS)	3:59.61	Moscow, Russia	13 June 2012

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
30 June 2012	12:10	Round 1
1 July 2012	16:10	Final

Results

Round 1

First 4 in each heat (Q) and 4 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Note
DQ	1	Anna Mishchenko	Ukraine	4:08.95	Q, Doping
DQ	1	Aslı Çakır Alptekin	Turkey	4:09.44	Q, Doping
DQ	1	Kristina Khaleyeva	Russia	4:09.69	Q, Doping
2	1	Isabel Macías	Spain	4:10.06	Q
3	1	Tereza Čapková	Czech Republic	4:10.22	q
4	1	Diana Sujew	Germany	4:10.72	q
DQ	2	Ekaterina Gorbunova	Russia	4:11.58	Q, Doping
5	2	Corinna Harrer	Germany	4:11.59	Q
DQ	2	Gamze Bulut	Turkey	4:11.68	Q, Doping
6	2	Nuria Fernández	Spain	4:11.77	Q
7	2	Ingvill Måkestad Bovim	Norway	4:11.97	q
8	1	Marina Munćan	Serbia	4:12.33	q
9	2	Luiza Gega	Albania	4:12.54
10	1	Hind Dehiba	France	4:12.79	SB
11	1	Denise Krebs	Germany	4:12.85
12	1	Ioana Doaga	Romania	4:13.73
13	1	Angelika Cichocka	Poland	4:14.59
14	2	Johanna Lehtinen	Finland	4:14.83	SB
15	2	Iris Fuentes-Pila	Spain	4:15.95
16	2	Sonja Roman	Slovenia	4:16.68
DQ	2	Anzhela Shevchenko	Ukraine	4:17.41	Doping
17	1	Ciara Mageean	Ireland	4:19.23
18	2	Tuğba Karakaya	Turkey	4:19.58	SB
19	2	Orla Drumm	Ireland	4:19.61
20	2	Lidia Chojecka	Poland	4:20.66
	1	Charlene Thomas	Great Britain	DQ	[3]

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Note
DQ	Aslı Çakır Alptekin	Turkey	4:05.31	Doping
DQ	Gamze Bulut	Turkey	4:06.04	Doping
DQ	Anna Mishchenko	Ukraine	4:07.74	Doping
DQ	Ekaterina Gorbunova	Russia	4:08.63	Doping
	Nuria Fernández	Spain	4:08.80	SB
	Diana Sujew	Germany	4:09.28
	Tereza Čapková	Czech Republic	4:10.17
DQ	Kristina Khaleyeva	Russia	4:10.26	Doping
4	Corinna Harrer	Germany	4:10.38
5	Isabel Macías	Spain	4:11.12
6	Ingvill Måkestad Bovim	Norway	4:13.32
7	Marina Munćan	Serbia	4:15.63

References

1. "The dirtiest race in history?". sportsintegrityinitiative.com. Retrieved 29 August 2018. In this race, both Alptekin and Bulut finished first and second respectively, while the Ukraine’s Anna Mischenko, who finished third, and Russia’s Ekaterina Ishova, who finished fourth, have both since been disqualified by the IAAF for an ADRV and abnormal ABP results respectively. Should the reports around Bulut’s possible infringement prove correct, it would mean that Spain’s Nuria Fernández, who originally finished fifth, would be crowned champion.
2. Positive cases in athletics iaaf.org 19 February 2016
3. Stepping off the track

• Round 1 Results
• Final Results
• European Athletics Championships - Helsinki 2012
• Full results