One of India’s most popular athletes on the international level, Anju Bobby George could soon find her name on the list of Olympic medalists for India, provided the efforts to order a probe in the investigation related to dope test of the first 3 place holders of Athens Olympic 2004 are successful.
At 2004 Olympics, Anju had finished fifth after Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva, Irina Meleshina, Tatyana Kotova and Australia’s Bronwyn Thompson. The first 3 rank holders in the event, have eventually failed the dope tests conducted after the games. This has given a hope to the next 3 rank holders, including Australia’s Bronwyn Thompson, India’s Anju Bobby George and Britain’s Jade Johnson.
These 3 athletes are now approaching their respective country officials to support their case. If the investigation is ordered, these 3 athletes will have a great chance of securing Olympic medals. All 3 of these athletes have now retired from the professional sport.
In January this year, Tatyana Labedeva had been asked to return two silver medals which she had won in 2008. Along with that, the silver medalist was banned for 2 years in 2012 after she failed a drug test and Kotova, the bronze medalist, also failed drug test when her sample from 2005 was retested in 2013.
At 2004 Olympics, Anju qualified for the finals and made a new Indian record by jumping 6.83 meters, which is still a record. However, she finished at fifth position. In 2003, she won Bronze medal in world championship and became the first Indian athlete to win a medal. In 2005, she won silver at the world athletics final, which was later converted to gold after the gold medalist failed the drug test.