Eva-Maria Gradwohl (born March 29, 1973 in

Weiz Weiz () is a town in the eastern part of the Austrian state of Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the sec ...

) is a retired

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n long-distance and marathon runner. She is also four-time Austrian national champion in half-marathon, three-time in marathon, and two-time in 10-km road run. In 2010 Gradwohl retired from her sporting career, after refusing to take a

doping test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of d ...

; according to NADA director Andreas Schwab, refusing to undergo a doping test was considered a positive test, and would be an obvious breach of the rules imposed in every sporting competition.

Biography

Gradwohl started her sporting career as a cyclist, until she began long-distance running at the

Vienna Marathon The Vienna City Marathon is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km held in Vienna, Austria since 1984. History The first edition was held on with a total of 794 competitors. It is Austria's largest road running event ...

. In 2002, she won her first national championship title in the Wachau Marathon, with a time of 1:14:47 for the half-marathon race, in addition to her personal best of 1:13:25, and two other titles in Vienna for the following year. She had also won medals in numerous marathon races, including silver at the Stockholm Marathon in 2006, and gold at the Linz Marathon in 2008, beating her personal best time of 2:30:51. Gradwohl did not only set a national record for her best possible time, but also reached a qualifying standard time of 2:33:00, which made her eligible to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. At age thirty-five, Gradwohl made her official Olympic debut, and competed in the women's marathon. She ran and finished the race in fifty-seventh place, with a time of 2:44:24, just fourteen minutes behind her personal best set in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

. In the following year, Gradwohl continued her winning streak at the Florence and Linz marathon.

Doping scandal

On April 29, 2010, Gradwohl retired from her sporting career, after refusing to take a

, while on a vacation with her friends in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. According to NADA director Andreas Schwab, refusing to undergo a doping test was considered a positive test, and would be an obvious breach of the rules imposed in every sporting competition. Gradwohl later admitted to the media reports that she was heavily involved in a personal relationship with former Nordic skiing coach Walter Mayer, who had been banned by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

for a blood-doping scandal at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, and also, for his alleged role in another doping scandal that rocked the Austrian national team at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

References

External links

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NBC 2008 Olympics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gradwohl, Eva-Maria Austrian female long-distance runners Austrian female marathon runners Austrian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in athletics Living people Olympic athletes for Austria Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics People from Weiz District 1973 births Sportspeople from Styria