Athanasia Tsoumeleka

Athanasia Tsoumeleka

Personal information
Born	(1982-01-02) 2 January 1982
Sport
Country	Greece
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	20 km walk
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	1:29.12
Medal record Olympic Games 2004 Athens 20 km race walking

Athanasia Tsoumeleka (Greek: Αθανασία Τσουμελέκα, [aθanaˈsia tsumeˈleka], born January 2, 1982) is a Greek race walker, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Until 2003 Tsoumeleka was a largely unknown athlete, and she only finished seventh at the World Championships that year. To everybody's great surprise, she won the Olympic gold medal race held in her own country ahead of Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova (silver) and Australia's Jane Saville (bronze).

In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she finished 9th in 20 km walk. After the end of the Games, a urine sample she had given on August 6 tested positive for erythropoietin, when subjected to a new test for CERA. Tsoumeleka expressed doubts about the validity of the procedure, and then announced her immediate retirement from the sport. On April 29, 2009 it was announced that Tsoumeleka had tested positive for CERA in a test on a blood sample provided during the 2008 Olympics. Her "B" sample also tested positive for CERA. On November 18, 2009 the International Olympic Committee decided to disqualify Tsoumeleka from the Women's 20 km Walk event of the 2008 Olympic Games where she placed 9th.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Greece
2000	World Junior Championships	Santiago, Chile	4th	10,000m	47:10.96
2002	European Championships	Munich, Germany	9th	20 km	1:31:25 SB
2003	European U23 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	1st	20 km	1:33:55
	World Championships	Paris, France	7th	20 km	1:29:34 NR
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	1st	20 km	1:29.12 PB
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	—	20 km	DSQ
2008	World Race Walking Cup	Cheboksary, Russia	14th	20 km	1:30:40
	Olympic Games	Beijing, PR China	DSQ	20 km	1:27:54