23-05-2025
The Olympics' dirtiest race ever?
'I felt very ready on the start line. I was like: 'OK, this is it. This is what we've worked for.''
For the British Olympic athlete Lisa Dobriskey, reaching the women's 1500m final at the London 2012 Games was a huge moment. She'd come fourth in Beijing four years earlier. This was her chance, in front of a home crowd.
When the race began, Lisa remembers feeling alarmed at how slow it was because she knew at some point it was going to take off. And then it did.
'I felt really panicked,' Lisa Dobriskey tells Helen Pidd. 'It just took my breath away for a second. And then from that point, just feeling kind of like I was just running for my life.'
'I was in a bad dream when you're just running and running and running and you can't keep up.'
Lisa ran across the line in 10th place. She was disappointed, even though she had done her best. She knew it hadn't been fair.
'All of the athletes in that race knew.'
The Guardian reporter Esther Addley explains how, in the 13 years since, various runners in the race have been accused of doping and the race has become known as the dirtiest race in history.
As of 2025, Lisa is now in 5th place. But it is bittersweet.
'After London, everything kind of changed,' Lisa says. 'I lost my sponsor … after 2012 it was like: 'Well, you know, you were fourth at the last Olympics, now you're 10th.' They let me go. So then I was without a sponsor, and things just kind of started to fall apart. And then ultimately, I decided to walk away and retire.'
