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.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Are you joking? A medal goes by default to another drug cheat. Aw come on.....get it together.
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?
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.

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Man Charged With Assaulting Female Runner at Popular Tokyo Running Spot

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female runner along the banks of the Tama River in Ota Ward, Tokyo. "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go for a walk and move my body a bit," the man told police. Local resident Hirai Muroyama , 20, of no known occupation, was arrested on charges of sexual assault. He is accused of acts including grabbing the breasts of a woman in her 20s at around 10 p.m. on May 31 along the banks of the Tama River. According to police, the woman was taking a break in her run when Muroyama approached her silently from behind and grabbed her breasts before running away. Under police interrogation Muroyama told investigators, "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go out for a walk and move my body. I'd had a few drinks and was feeling pretty hype. She was totally my type." source article: https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newsey