Getting a bronze medal 10 years after competing at the 2012 London Olympics would be a dream come true for Jamaican 400m hurdler Kaliese Spencer.
The development comes after World Athletics has taken the decision to strip Russia’s Natalya Antyukh of her gold medal for doping.
Antyuh won ahead of the USA’s Lashinda Demus and the Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnová. Spencer, now 35, finished fourth. As it stands, Demus would be upgraded to the gold medal, Hejnova the silver and Spencer the bronze, her first individual global medal.
While cognizant of the circumstances, expressed joy at the news.
“I would be extremely elated if I’m deemed the Olympic bronze medalist,” the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion revealed on Monday.
“I totally believe in FairPlay and by no means am I celebrating another athlete’s downfall, but being an Olympic medalist has always been a great dream of mine; though not in the fashion I would have wanted it to be, I would be over the moon. Wow, 10 years later! This has to be God!
Antyukh was already serving a four-year ban in a previous case judged by the Court or Arbitration for Sport last year that stripped her results from 2013 to 2015.
The new ruling based on historical evidence recovered from a Moscow testing laboratory database further disqualified Antyukh in all of her events from July 15, 2012 through June 29, 2013, track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit said.
Spencer, a two-time national champion and the 2014 Continental Cup winner, returned to the MVP Track Club last season after the birth of her son. However, she suffered an injury which kept her out of most of the remainder of the season. She is expected to return to training soon.
Source: Leighton Levy
www.sports24ghana.com
