Skip to main content

Universiade Women's 5000 m Gold and Silver Medalists Bârcă and Golovkina Banned for Positive Drug Tests

Thank you to Hilary Evans and reader Joe West for pointing out this story.

2013 Kazan Universiade (World University Games) women's 5000 m gold medalist Roxana Bârcă of Romania has received a ban for testing positive at the Universiade in connection with her win on July 11.

http://www.antena3.ro/en/sport/romanian-athlete-roxana-barca-gold-medalist-in-kazan-tested-positive-for-doping-223161.html

With Bârcă's medal retracted silver medalist Olga Golovkina of Universiade host Russia is apparently elevated to gold, with Japan's bronze medalist Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.) and 4th-placer Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) moving up to silver and bronze respectively. However, Golovkina herself has received a two-year ban for testing positive for steroids in an out-of-competition test five days after the Universiade women's 5000 m.

http://en.ria.ru/sports/20131005/183957328.html

As Golovkina's positive test was subsequent to her Universiade run it appears that she will still receive the gold medal despite currently serving a drug ban rather than the medals going to Suzuki, Shoji and 5th-place Dudu Karakaya of Turkey.  What a mess.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Are you joking? A medal goes by default to another drug cheat. Aw come on.....get it together.
December 6, 2013 at 6:45 AM
André Roukema said…
If someone has it together then it is Brett Larner who almost singlehandedly opened up the Japanese runningculture for running fans outside Japan. Thanks for the opportunity to mention that once more. But who are you Anonymous?
December 9, 2013 at 4:05 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks for the kind words, but I think the anonymous poster was directing the get it together comment to the powers that be with regard to the current situation mentioned in this post.
December 9, 2013 at 3:18 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...
2 comments
Read more

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...
Post a Comment
Read more

JAAF Announces Marathon Teams for Nagoya Asian Games

On Mar. 25 the JAAF announced Japan's marathon team lineups for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) make up the men's team, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Mikuni Yada (Edion) representing Japan in the women's marathon. Each country can field up to 2 men and 2 women per marathon team at the Asian Games. The top-ranked male and female athletes in the 2025-26 MGC Series rankings were given first priority, with the second slots going to people with high-level performances in the 2025-26 MGC Series. Yoshida ran 2:05:16 to win the 2024 Fukuoka International Marathon, and at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon ran an excellent 2:06:59 to take the top Japanese spot in the race and in the MGC rankings. After having run the Tokyo World Championships marathon last fall this will be his second-straight marathon national team in a major international championships. Yamashita ran 2:06:18 at February's Osak...
Post a Comment
Read more