Lausanne, March 30 (IANS) The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Thursday to reallocate the women’s 20km race walk gold medal at London 2012 to China’s Qieyang Shijie.
The IOC said in a press release that in the women’s 20km race walk at London 2012, the first-placed athlete was disqualified, and the gold medal has now been re-allocated to Qieyang Shijie, silver and bronze to China’s Liu Hong and Lyu Xiuzhi. The ranking down to eighth place has been adjusted accordingly.
As the first-placed athlete in the women’s 400m hurdles event at London 2012 was disqualified, the gold medal has now been reallocated to Lashinda Demus of the United States. Silver has now been given to Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic and bronze to Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica, and the subsequent ranking down to seventh place has been adjusted.
The reallocation of medals is not automatic and is decided by the IOC on a case-by-case basis. If the IOC decides to reallocate the medals, this takes place only after all the remedies have been exhausted by the sanctioned athletes or teams, and once all procedures have been closed, the IOC informed in a release on Thursday.
Where such samples are available, at least one sample from any athlete bumped up should be re-analysed and confirmed negative. If no sample is available to be re-analysed, the athlete is given the benefit of the doubt.
Since 2018, athletes can choose from six options to receive their reallocated medals in a way that recognises their achievements.
–IANS
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