Gamze Bulut (; born August 3, 1992, in

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

) is a Turkish

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distanc ...

. Due to receive the 2012 gold medals as Olympic and European champion following the disqualification of teammate

Aslı Çakır Alptekin Aslı Çakır Alptekin (born 20 August 1985 in Antalya) is a Turkish former 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 from ...

from both events, Bulut herself came under investigation for abnormalities in her athlete 'passport', and on 1 June 2016, Turkish media reported that Bulut had also been found to have employed illegal performance enhancing methods by dint of observations of her athlete 'passport'. This was confirmed by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

and Bulut lost her Olympic and European medals, and all medals and records from the date of the infraction, July 20, 2011, to 2016. She received a four-year ban until May 29, 2020. The tall athlete at was a member of Fenerbahçe Athletics, where she was coached by Süleyman Altınoluk.

Career

At the

2009 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival The 2009 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival was held in Tampere, Finland. Sports Mascot The mascot for the 2009 European Youth Olympic Festival is Finx, a Eurasian lynx. Venues Eight venues were used in this edition of European Youth Olym ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Finland, she became bronze medalist in the 2000 m steeplechase event with a time of 6:50.24. She won the gold medal of the 3000 m steeplechase event at the 2009 Balkan Junior Athletics Championships held in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Bulut also lost the silver medal in the

1500 meters The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers ...

from the

2012 European Athletics Championships The 2012 European Athletics Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland between 27 June and 1 July 2012. This edition marks the beginning of a new two-year cycle of the European Athletics Championships which were previously held every four years. ...

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

, when finishing second behind her compatriot

. She took second place and the silver medal in

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometer ...

at the

2012 Summer 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 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, again finishing behind Alptekin. Bulut had set a personal best time of 4:01:18 in the semi-finals of the competition. Alptekin's results from 2010 onwards were subsequently stripped due to doping offences, making Bulut the ''de facto'' Olympic and European champion. However, in March 2016, it was reported that Bulut too was also under investigation for suspected doping. Bulut subsequently received a four-year ban in 2017 backdated to 2011 with all her results from 2011 to 2016 disqualified. When the 5000 meters event at the 9th European Athletics U23 Championships was held in Tampere, Bulut won the gold medal setting a personal best time with 15:45.03. However, following her doping ban in 2017 all her results backdated to 2011 were disqualified, including this performance. Bulut returned to athletics competition in 2021 almost entirely in events run in Turkey.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulut, Gamze 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Eskişehir Turkish female middle-distance runners Turkish female steeplechase runners Fenerbahçe athletes Olympic athletes for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Doping cases in athletics 21st-century Turkish sportswomen