Turkey's Asli Cakir Alptekin, winner of 'dirtiest race in history', banned for life following third doping offence
The nature of her latest offence has not yet been made public
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Your support makes all the difference.Turkey’s Asli Cakir Alptekin, a former Olympic 1500m champion and winner of the “dirtiest race in history”, has been banned for life after a third doping offence.
The 32-year-old was stripped of both her Olympic and European 1500m titles in 2015 and received an eight-year ban for anomalies in her biological passport.
However, Cakir Alptekin was allowed to return to the sport this year after her ban was halved and its start date backdated to 2013.
But Alptekin, who won the women’s 1500m final at the 2012 Games, dubbed the “dirtiest race in history” with six of the first nine finishers proven drug cheats, has since reoffended.
"We are never, ever going to allow doping," said Turkish Athletics Federation chief Fatih Cintimar.
The nature of her latest offence has not yet been made public.
Cakir Alptekin previously served a two-year ban following a positive test at the 2004 World Junior Championships.
She finished 11th in the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country event in Portugal in February, helping Istanbul team Uskudar Belediyespor win the title.
Turkey's athletics performances have long been shadowed by doping.
Ethiopian-born Turkish long distance runner Elvan Abeylegesse was banned in 2016 for two years for doping, while sprint hurdler Nevin Yanit was banned for three years in 2013.
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