The winner of the London Marathon was banned for life and had to give back their prize money after the race.
A historic moment happened at the London Marathon on Sunday when Sebastian Sawe won the men’s race in under two hours! Sawe has faced some doping questions before, but he and Adidas have worked hard to prove that his success comes from his training and talent.
On the women’s side, Hellen Obiri took the win, finishing in 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 41 seconds, beating her fellow Kenyan, Joyciline Jepkosgei. Fans are celebrating these amazing performances, but concerns about doping still linger, especially since a former London Marathon winner was caught and banned for cheating.
Liliya Shobukhova, who won the London Marathon in 2010, was later found to have broken doping rules. She was ordered to give back her prize money and is banned for life from the race. Although she celebrated her 2010 victory with a time of 2 hours and 22 minutes, investigations showed irregularities in her biological passport. Because of this, all her results from October 2009 onwards were canceled.
Shobukhova had to pay back nearly £378,000 in prize money and appearance fees from the 2010 and 2011 London Marathons, where she also placed second. She received a suspension of 38 months, later reduced by seven months for cooperating with the World Anti-Doping Agency. Besides being banned from the London Marathon, she is also barred from competing in the other major marathons like Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City.