The victory of the Russian athlete Natalia Antyukh at the 2012 London Olympics is declared invalid, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) may redistribute the awards, according to a statement from the independent body combating negative phenomena in athletics (IAU).
In late October, the AIU overturned Antyukh’s results from July 2012 to June 2013 due to an anti-doping rule violation. During this period, Antyukh won gold in the 400 meter hurdles at the London Games. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) Preliminary Review Board for Anti-Doping Rule Violations also announced the cancellation.
Antyukh would have had 45 days to appeal RUSADA’s decision. At the end of this period, the decision became final and the IAU sent a sanction memorandum to the competition department of World Athletics to cancel the athlete’s results and also inform the IOC.
The IOC can now redistribute medals and update its database.
At the 2012 Olympics, second place in the 400 m hurdles was won by American Lashinda Dimus, bronze was won by Czech Zuzana Heinova, 4th place was taken by the representative of Jamaica Kalisa Spencer.
Antyukh was charged with using a banned substance or method based on information obtained from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory’s LIMS database.
“While LIMS data cases are long, it is important to ensure clean and fair competition and outcomes, even after a decade,” said IAU Chief Brett Cloutier.
In April last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) suspended Antyukh for four years for an anti-doping rule violation. All of the 41-year-old’s results submitted since June 30, 2013 have been voided. The athlete was deprived of titles, awards, medals, points, prizes and money for participating in competitions.
In February 2017, Antyukh announced his retirement.
Antyukh won gold at two World Relay Championships and also won three European Championships. At the Athens Games in 2004, the runner won silver in the relay and bronze in the 400m hurdles.
Source : MatchTV
