Great Britain middle-distance runner Lisa Dobriskey has ignited yet another doping debate after suggesting the women's 1500m race wasn't run on a level playing field.
While few athletes have been caught using performance-enhancing drugs in London, there have been clouds hanging over several eye-catching performances.
That's not to mention the relatively large number of high-profile medallists that have previously served drug bans, including 100m bronze medallist Justin Gatlin and Kazakhstan's road cycling gold medallist Alexander Vinokourov.
Carl Lewis drew an angry response from Usain Bolt on Friday (AEST) after suggesting the Jamaican’s incredible feats may be drug-tainted, but that didn’t stop Dobriskey from doing the same after she finished 10th in the women's 1500m.
"I'll probably get into trouble for saying this, but I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field," Dobriskey said.
This was probably a thinly-veiled reference to Turkish runner Asli Cakir Alptekin, who won gold ahead of compatriot Gamze Bulut.
Women's 1500m final
Level playing field? ... the athletes in the women's 1500m final. Source: Getty Images
Alptekin served a two-year doping suspension after the 2004 junior world championships.
She wasn’t the only drug-tainted athlete to win gold in the Olympic Stadium on day 14, with Russian Tatyana Lysenko, who sat out the 2008 Games due to a two-year doping ban, winning the women's hammer throw.
Another to have confessed to using a performance-enhancing drug, Great Britain sprinter Dwain Chambers, ran in the 4 x 100m relay and was surprisingly given a rousing reception by the home crowd.
But in amongst the negativity and suspicion, there was some good news for athletics as one of the longest-standing drug-tainted world records was finally broken when the US women's 4 x 100m relay team bettered the mark set by East Germany 27 years ago.
PR