IOC reallocates – The IOC executive board has reallocated the 2012 London Olympics women’s 800 medals after the disqualification tied to an anti-doping violation and a later update to official results. Caster Semenya keeps gold, while Pamela Jelimo is promoted to silver and Aly
The moment arrived months after the last paperwork—and it changed the medals for the women’s 800 at the 2012 London Olympics. On Monday, June 22, the International Olympic Committee announced that its executive board had reallocated the results for the event.
The adjustment follows the disqualification of Yekaterina Poistogova, now Guliyev, from the 2012 London Games due to an anti-doping rule violation. The official results were then modified after an appeal was dismissed in May of 2025.
Gold at the event remains with Caster Semenya (South Africa) in 1:57.23. Pamela Jelimo (Kenya) moves up from the original results to take silver in 1:57.59. Alysia Montaño (USA) is awarded bronze in 1:57.93.
Francine Niyonsaba (Burundi) is listed for fourth place with a time of 1:59.63, and Janeth Jepkosgei (Kenya) for fifth at 2:00.19. Along with the medal changes. the IOC said Jelimo will be awarded a silver medal. Montaño will receive a bronze medal. and Niyonsaba and Jepkosgei will get fourth and fifth place diplomas. respectively.
The stakes behind the reallocation stretch beyond a single podium. The women’s 800 at the 2012 London Games was marred by Russian doping. The IOC noted that the original winner, Mariya Savinova, was stripped of her gold medal for doping in 2017. Russia’s Elena Arzhakova, who originally finished sixth, was also disqualified for doping.
Montaño has spoken out against doping in recent years, and the IOC’s announcement landed as a personal turning point. It is a victory after years of being moved upward: she originally finished fifth, but multiple disqualifications elevated her to a first-time Olympic medalist.
“I am grateful for this reallocation,” Montaño said to Sports on Monday, June 22. “Integrity and truth always wins out. I’ve always operated in a way that at the end of the day I can be proud of my honest efforts and my hard work and that shortcuts don’t win. I think what sports has taught me. and my pursuit of becoming an Olympian and becoming an Olympic medalist. it’s taught me that my resilience and my persistence is something that I can carry over into the rest of my life.”.
The medal shifts also sit inside a wider crackdown on Russian doping that has shaped Olympic participation for years. Russia competed in the 2016 Olympics under strict restriction. In 2019. the World Anti-Doping Agency voted to ban Russia from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games due to manipulated doping data. Select Russian athletes were permitted to compete if they proved they were not part of the scandal.
The IOC suspended Russia for the 2024 Paris Olympics because of the war with Ukraine, but some Russian athletes were still allowed to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics under a neutral flag.
For the athletes whose results were changed years later, the timing can feel both delayed and decisive. With the IOC executive board’s reallocation now finalized, the women’s 800 podium from London 2012 has a new lineup—and, for Montaño and Jelimo, a medal that arrived long after the race.
IOC 2012 London Olympics women's 800 medal reallocation doping disqualification anti-doping rule violation Pamela Jelimo Alysia Montaño Francine Niyonsaba Janeth Jepkosgei Caster Semenya Yekaterina Poistogova
So basically paperwork changed years later and everyone just accepts it? Kinda wild how long doping stuff takes to catch up.
Wait I thought Semenya got gold already? Why are we acting like this just happened. Also Aly Montano got bronze now?? Makes me mad for the people who celebrated back then.
This is why I don’t trust Russian anything in sports, like it’s always doping. But also wasn’t Caster Semenya already disqualified at some point? I’m confused, like which rules are they using now?
Doping scandal roulette. They remove someone, then rerank, then another appeal… meanwhile athletes lose years of their life. I don’t even know why they couldn’t just redo the whole results sooner, or is that too hard? Congrats to whoever moved up but it feels like a consolation prize.