High Jump, Women

One of the heaviest favorites in Beijing among the women was Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlašić. She had won 34 consecutive meets, and was the 2007 World Champion. In 2008 she had won all her Golden League meets. In the final, there were still six jumpers remaining at the lofty height of 2.01 (6-7). Four cleared, including Vlašić, who was perfect to that point, and was leading. She was joined by Russians Anna Chicherova, also with a first-attempt clearance, and Yelena Slesarenko, and well-known Belgian heptathlete Tia Hellebaut. Vlašić and Chicherova were again perfect over 2.03 (6-8), while Hellebaut needed two attempts to clear, and Slesarenko went out. But at 2.05 (6-8¾) Hellebaut sailed over on her first attempt for a PR, after Vlašić had missed once. She succeeded on her second attempt but neither could clear 2.07 (6-9½) and the gold medal was Hellebaut’s, the first for Belgium in athletics since 1964 (Gaston Roelants in the steeplechase). Hellebaut was a rare athlete who competed while wearing glasses.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected.

In October 2016 Anna Chicherova (RUS) was revealed to have a positive re-test for turinabol (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone), and was disqualified, losing her bronze medal. She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but that appeal was denied on 6 October 2017.

The original fourth- and fifth-place finishers, Yelena Slesarenko (RUS) and Vita Palamar (UKR), respectively, were also disqualified in November 2016 after positive re-tests for turinabol (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone). In November 2017, the IOC announced that the bronze medal would be re-assigned to American Chaunté Howard-Lowe (as Miss Howard in 2008), who finished only sixth originally.