Kenya’s 800m star and 2008 Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo is set to be officially upgraded to silver medalist from the 2012 London Olympic Games, following the dismissal of an appeal by Russian-born runner Ekaterina Guliyev (formerly Poistogova) against a four-year doping ban.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld a previous decision confirming that Guliyev committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), disqualifying her results and stripping her of the Olympic silver medal she inherited after the original gold medalist, Mariya Savinova, was disqualified in 2017 for doping.
Savinova’s disqualification had elevated Caster Semenya of South Africa to gold and Guliyev to silver. With the latest ruling, Jelimo, who originally finished fourth, moves up to silver, while Alysia Montaño of the USA is in line to receive the bronze medal.
World Athletics has begun the process of disqualifying Guliyev’s results and updating competition rankings. Once this is complete, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will proceed with the official reallocation of Olympic medals and corresponding updates to its database.
The CAS ruling also invalidates several of Guliyev’s performances from 2013 and 2014, including victories at the Düsseldorf International, Birmingham Aviva Indoor Grand Prix, Oslo Bislett Games, Rabat’s Meeting International Mohammed VI, and the European Team Championships. She also placed second at the Athletissima Lausanne in July 2014.
Guliyev had contested the CAS ruling made on March 28, 2024, but her appeal was rejected, paving the way for rightful athletes, like Jelimo, to receive long-overdue recognition.
Jelimo’s upgrade adds a significant chapter to her distinguished career and reinforces the global push for clean and fair competition in athletics.
Written By Rodney Mbua
