Athletics at the 2012 London Summer Games:

There was no clear favorite in the women's metric mile, especially after Moroccan Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, considered a slight favorite, tested positive for a diuretic just before London. The final had 13 runners from nine different nations, but in the end the two Turkish runners would win gold and silver. The pace in the final was funereal, so slow that despite the top eight runners bettering 60 seconds for the final lap, the winning time was five seconds slower than the previous slowest winning time at the Olympics.

With the slow pace, the entire pack was together at 1100 metres. America's best hope, Morgan Uceny, world ranked #1 in 2011, was running near the back of the pack at that point, only to lock legs with another runner and fall to the track. The same fate had befallen her at the 2011 World Championships, and she pounded her fists on the London track in frustration. Ahead of her the lead at three laps was taken by Gamze Bulut of Turkey. But she was soon passed by her teammate, Aslı Çakır Alptekin. The two Turks were trailed by Ethiopia's Abeba Aregawi and Bahrain's Maryam Jamal. The homestretch was a mad sprint, due to the slow pace, but Çakır Alptekin held on for gold, with Bulut coming up from fourth 50 metres from the line to win silver, and Jamal filling out the podium.

Alptekin had previously been suspended for doping, after a positive test at the 2004 World Junior Championships, but returned in 2006. Jamal was born Zenebech Tola in Ethiopia but in 2004 she and her husband sought political asylum in Switzerland. She was eventually granted citizenship in Bahrain which asked that she run for them and adopt a Muslim name. She was the 2007 and 2009 World Champion.

A few months after the Games, Çakır Alptekin was sued by Turkish runner, Süreyya Ayhan who alleged that she deserved a share of the riches Çakır Alptekin received for winning the gold medal. Ayhan Kop claimed there was an a contract between the two granting her a share of the rewards if Çakır Alptekin won an Olympic medal.