Aslı Çakır Alptekin (born 20 August 1985 in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

) is a Turkish former

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

middle-distance runner. A member of the Üsküdar Belediyespor in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, she is coached by her husband, runner Ihsan Alptekin. She was banned for life from competition in 2017 for repeated doping offenses.

Athletics career

She is tall and . Alptekin won the gold medal in the 1500 m at the

2011 Summer Universiade The 2011 Summer Universiade ( zh, c=2011年夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no), also known as the XXVI Summer Universiade ( zh, c=, s=第二十六届夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no) and Shenzhen 2011, was hosted in Shenzhen, Gua ...

held in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. She also won the bronze medal in the 1500 m event at the 2012 World Indoor Championships held in

. Both of these titles were later stripped off her upon failed doping tests. Alptekin recorded her personal best in 1500m with 3:56.62 at the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

meet in Paris on 6 July 2012. Six weeks later, she won the gold medal at the

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

in the 1500 m event. Alptekin was also stripped of her Olympic title as a result of her use of banned substances and methods.

Doping cases

Alptekin received a two-year ban from the track in September 2004 due to positive testing for illegal substances. The positive test came at the 2004 World Junior Championships, where she was the fastest in the heats of the steeplechase and placed sixth in the final. On 22 March 2013, several news agencies reported that Alptekin was one of eight athletes who tested positive for banned substances. Alptekin faced a lifetime ban if the positive test was upheld. Neither the IAAF nor WADA officially commented on the doping allegation. On 3 December, the Turkish Athletic Federation announced that they had cleared her of the charges. The IAAF subsequently appealed the Turkish federation's decision to clear Alptekin to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

and again suspended the athlete from competition. On 17 August 2015, the

says it approved a settlement agreed to by Alptekin and the IAAF. Alptekin agreed to give up her 1500 m Olympic title and serve an eight-year ban for

blood doping Blood doping is a form of Doping in sport, doping in which the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream is boosted in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentr ...

. Alptekin forfeited all her results from 29 July 2010, including the 2012 Olympic gold and her 2012 European Championship title. She returned that year after the ban was halved and its start date backdated to 2013, but has since reoffended. On 23 September 2017, Alptekin was banned for life after a third doping offence. "We are never, ever going to allow doping," said Turkish Athletics Federation chief Fatih Çintimar.

Personal life

Alptekin returned to the tracks in 2006, motivated by her future husband İhsan Alptekin, who gave up his athletics career early to coach her. The two married in 2011 in Aslı's hometown of

. Alptekin was a student of physical education and sports at the Dumlupınar University in

Kütahya Kütahya (; historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion; Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the seat of Kütahya Province and Kütahya District. In 19 ...

International competitions

References

External links