Former athlete Denisa Helceletová should become an after-doping winner and already after the end of her career as a European champion in the 400-meter hurdles.
In the final race in 2012 in Helsinki, the Czech national team member, who was competing under the name Rosolová, finished second to Irina Davydová from Russia, whose biological passport revealed irregularities indicating the use of doping or sample handling. Originally the fourth Zuzana Hejnová should move to the bronze medal from the same race.
In addition, Helcelet is to receive bronze from the championship two years later in Zurich, where Davydov finished third.
“So I became European champion between feeding and cleaning, that’s good,” said Blesku Helcelet, who ended her career in 2017 and is currently raising three-year-old Evelin and six-year-old Anastasia with her husband, decathlon fighter Adam Sebastian Helcelet.
According to the insidethegames.biz server with reference to the Russian agency TASS, Davydov’s results from the period from June 20, 2012 to June 30, 2015 were annulled. Deviations found in blood sample values from this time were found by analyzing data obtained from the LIMS system of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory in 2019. Now thirty-three-year-old Davydov, who has also ended her career, has begun a two-year start ban on January 17 this year. She can appeal against the sentence given to her by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
Both Helcelet and Hejnová already have experience with an additional medal gain. Both were members of the quarterfinal relay at the 2010 World Indoor Championships, where they finished fourth together with Jitka Bartoničková and Zuzana Bergrová. The Czechs first moved to bronze due to doping in the Jamaican team, nine years after the race they were disqualified by the Russians for the same reason. “But we don’t even have a Doha medal yet, and it’s been twelve years,” Helcelet said in Blesk about the long-running process that regularly precedes the additional presentation of medals.
Thirty-five-year-old Helcelet, who also competed under her native name Ščerbová, used to play all-around and long-distance in addition to running. In 2011 she became the European Indoor Champion on a smooth Thursday, at the 2012 European Championships she took part in the bronze quarterly relay. She competed in four Olympics.
Hejnová, the same age, has been one of the world’s top 400-meter hurdles since 2008, with the Olympic bronze medal from London 2012 and two world titles. She also won several medals in the smooth relay, she did not reach the individual precious metal from the European Championships. Due to injuries, she gave up at last year’s Olympics in Tokyo, but wants to continue her career.
