Lisa Jane Dobriskey (born 23 December 1983 in

Ashford, Kent Ashford is a town in the county of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Great Stour at the southern or Escarpment, scarp edge of the North Downs, about southeast of central London and northwest of Folkestone by road. In the ...

) is an English

middle distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

. She was the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

champion in the 1500 m in 2006 and won a silver medal in the same distance at the 2009 World Championships.

Career

After winning her school's 800 m at age 11, her teachers suggested that she join the local athletic club. Dobriskey won

Amateur Athletic Association The Amateur Athletic Association of England or AAA (pronounced 'three As') is the oldest national governing body for athletics in the world, having been established on 24 April 1880. Historically it effectively oversaw athletics throughout Britai ...

titles at Under 15/17/20 and 23. She was the fastest British under-17 girl at 800m (2:08.67) and fourth fastest at 1500 m (4:31.7) in 1999, and the third fastest at 1500 m (4:28.10) in 2000. She won the English Schools 800 m title for Juniors in 1998 and for Intermediates in 1999 and made her junior international debut indoors against Germany and France at 1500 m in 2000. In the English Schools

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

she was 4th in the Junior girls in 1998 and 3rd in the Intermediates in 1999. She was 2nd in the Inter-counties U15 cc in 1999. She won the gold medal in the women's 1500 m event at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

. She finished 4th in the final of the 1500 m in the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing, resulting in her ranking fourth in the world for the 1500 m. After this, she won the

Fifth Avenue Mile The Fifth Avenue Mile is an annual road race on Fifth Avenue in New York City, United States. The race begins at 80th Street and heads twenty blocks south to 60th Street. First held on September 26, 1981, the race is currently organized by N ...

competition with the second fastest ever time recorded by a female athlete at the race. After suffering a stress fracture in her back early in the 2009 season, she finished third in the 1500 m at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

at the

Olympiastadion Olympiastadion is the German, Finnish and Swedish word for Olympic Stadium and may refer to: * Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics (though mostly referred as simply ''Stockholms Stadion'') * Olympiastadion (Berlin), the ...

in Berlin, Germany. Dobriskey was upgraded to silver after winner Natalia Rodriguez of Spain was disqualified for shoving Ethiopian Gelete Burika, who fell on the last lap. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, she reached the 1500 m final again, finishing in 10th place. After the race, Dobriskey referred to possible doping by some of her rivals, saying "I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field". Race winner

Aslı Çakır Alptekin Aslı Çakır Alptekin (born 20 August 1985 in Antalya) is a former Turkish female middle-distance runner. A member of the Üsküdar Belediyespor in Istanbul, she is coached by her husband, runner Ihsan Alptekin. She was banned for life for rep ...

was subsequently stripped of the gold medal in 2015 and given an eight-year ban from competition after testing positive for banned substances. In all, six of the nine runners who finished ahead of Dobriskey in the final have been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during their careers.

Statistics

Lisa Dobriskey's personal best in the 1500 m ranks her third on the British all-time list, behind

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set Briti ...

and

Laura Muir Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze med ...

Personal bests

Personal life

She was born in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

descent and spent her childhood in

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

before attending

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. Her younger brothers David and Steven reached county level at middle distance running, javelin and discus. Her father is a soil consultant, who worked for construction company

Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educa ...

at the site of the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Dobriskey is married to former 800 m runner

Ricky Soos Ricky Istvan Soos (born 28 June 1983 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire) is a retired English middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. He represented his country at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερι� ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobriskey, Lisa 1983 births Living people People from Ashford, Kent Sportspeople from Kent English female middle-distance runners British female middle-distance runners Olympic female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners British people of Polish descent Alumni of Loughborough University Commonwealth Games competitors for England Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games