Lisa Jane Dobriskey (born 23 December 1983 in

Ashford, Kent Ashford is a town in the Borough of Ashford, Ashford district, 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 by road southeast of centr ...

) is a retired English

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 ...

. She was the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

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 Brita ...

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 soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

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, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

. 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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

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 ...

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 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

at the Olympiastadion 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, were 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 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 ...

was subsequently stripped of the gold medal in 2015 and given an eight-year ban from competition after testing positive for banned substances. Second-placed finisher

Gamze Bulut Gamze Bulut (; born August 3, 1992, in Eskişehir) is a Turkish middle-distance runner. Due to receive the 2012 gold medals as Olympic and European champion following the disqualification of teammate Aslı Çakır Alptekin from both events, Bul ...

was subsequently stripped of her silver medal in 2017 after testing positive for banned substances, and

Tatyana Tomashova Tatyana Ivanovna Tomashova () (born 1 July 1975 in Perm) is a former Russian distance runner. Career At the 2000 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 5000 metres but participated in shorter races thereafter, mainly in the 1500 metres. She is a ...

, who was moved up to second place following Alptekin & Bulut's disqualifications, was stripped of her silver medal in 2024 for similar offences. The seventh-placed finished

Natallia Kareiva Natallia Stanislavauna Kareiva (; born 14 November 1985) is a Belarusian runner who specializes in the middle distance events. Kareiva received a two-year ban from the sport for doping after her biological passport An athlete biological pass ...

, who came seventh, and the ninth-placed finisher

Yekaterina Kostetskaya Yekaterina Aleksandrovna Kostetskaya (; born 31 December 1986) is a Russian track athlete. She came fifth in the 800 m final at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, but was later disqualified for doping. Kostetskaya met Australian pole va ...

were also subsequently disqualified. In all, five out of the twelve runners in the race were subsequently disqualified for retrospective doping offences. 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

Dobriskey's personal best in the 1500 m ranks her sixth on the British all-time list.

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 * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

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-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

. 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, educ ...

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, were 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 Richard Istvan Soos (born 28 June 1983) is an English retired middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. He represented his country at the 2004 Summer Olympics, reaching the semifinals. Biography Soos became British 800 metres ...

. As of November 2024, Dobriskey runs a Pilates studio in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobriskey, Lisa 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Ashford, Kent English female middle-distance runners British female middle-distance runners Olympic female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for 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 English people of Polish descent Alumni of Loughborough University Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 21st-century English sportswomen