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Journalism of Courage
In the wake of a doping cloud over two Russian long jumpers who finished on the podium at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games,Anju Bobby George is planning to take legal recourse to claim the Olympic medal that she missed out on.
While Anju finished sixth in Athens,she moved up a rung,to fifth position,after US star Marion Jones was found guilty of using a banned substance in 2007.
Last week,the international athletics body announced that traces of a banned substance were found in 2004 Olympics bronze medallist Tatyana Kotovas urine sample collected at the 2005 World Championships.
With testing methods and technology evolving each year,old frozen samples are re-tested on a periodic basis. Anju is now in line for the gold at the 2005 Monaco World Athletics Finals since she had finished second behind Kotova.
Athens Games silver medallist Irina Simagina,who now goes by the surname Meleshina,was suspended last year by the Russian athletics association for a steroid violation.
However,there is no evidence yet to prove that Simagina and Kotova used banned substances during the Athens Games. Tatyana Lebedeva had won the gold,and all three medallists had jumped over seven metres.
I am not saying that a particular athlete or athletes from a particular nation cheated,but in the light of new cases of doping from the Helsinki World Championships of 2005,I will request the IOC,through my attorney,to re-test samples from the womens long jump event of the Athens Games, said Anju.
I am aware that samples are not re-tested beyond eight years of an event,but the new evidence is too compelling not to consider re-testing of Athens samples, added the 35-year-old.
The 2003 World Championships bronze medalist will take the help of Hudson Smith International,the sports management and legal services company based in Irvine,California.
Meanwhile,the IOC said it is bound by the eight-year limit for sample re-testing. The IOC keeps the samples frozen for eight years so we can re-test them should more sophisticated testing methods become available or new substances be added to the list of banned substances. The IOC decided to further analyse a number of samples from the Athens Games as a result of targeted testing based on intelligence and new methods in close collaboration with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). We have now passed the period of eight years for the Athens samples and the IOC will not be conducting further analysis on the Athens Games, said Sandrine Tonge,the IOCs media relations manager.
Anju said she will approach the IOC with a plea to change the present norm.
