Athletics Ireland have begun seeking the European Indoor bronze medal now due to Roisin McGettigan after Russia's Anna Alminova became the latest athlete to be banned retrospectively for a doping offence.
Alminova won the 1,500 metres at the European Indoors in Turin back in 2009, with McGettigan finished a close fourth.
But the IAAF – the governing body of world athletics – have now announced that Alminova is to be stripped of all performances from February 2009, as well as being handed a 30-month suspension, due to irregularities in her biological passport.
For McGettigan, now retired from competitive athletics, it's another case of better late than never: Derval O'Rourke is also due a bronze medal from the 60 metres hurdles at last year's European Indoors in Gothenburg, after gold medal winner Nevin Yanit from Turkey was also later handed a two-year ban.
Indeed O'Rourke also won bronze at those 2009 European Indoors in Turin, as did Mary Cullen over 3,000 metres, and McGettigan's promotion to a podium position brings Ireland's medal tally from those championships to three.
"I spoke with Roisin this morning, and she is amazed, and of course delighted," John Foley, chief executive of Athletics Ireland, told the Irish Times today. "She is retired now, living in the US with two young children, but this is a nice bonus for her, after what was a very good career anyway."
Indeed the Wicklow athlete also made the Olympic final in the 3,000 metres steeplechase in Beijing in 2008, and spent several successful years on scholarship in Providence, Rhode Island.
Alminova's ban, meanwhile, means that Spain's Natalia Rodríguez will now take that European Indoor 1,500m title: McGettigan had finished fourth, running 4:11.58, just off Sonja Roman from Slovenia, who ran 4:11.42, but McGettigan's name will now go down in the records as the bronze medal winner.
Athletics Ireland has also announced a new multi-year headline sponsorship agreement with GloHealth, one of Ireland’s latest and most innovative health insurer. The sponsorship agreement will include sponsorship of all of Athletics Ireland’s National Championships and sponsorship of the successful Fit4Life initiative.
