Russian Olympian Stripped of 2012 Gold Medal for Doping

As a result, an American is in line to be named champion 10 years later.

Russian 400-meter hurdler Natalya Antyukh will lose her gold medal from the 2012 London Games due to doping. As a result, American Lashinda Demus is in position to be named the champion 10 years later. 

On Wednesday, The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees doping cases in track and field, announced Antyukh had not appealed a penalty handed down two months ago that included the stripping of her results from July 2012 through June 2013.

Zuzana Hejnová of the Czech Republic and Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica are in line to receive silver and bronze, respectively. AIU said Antyukh, who had already been serving a four-year ban, received the added sanction of having the 2012 results stripped because of evidence that came from a database kept at the Moscow anti-doping laboratory. 

The country was embroiled in a scandal where the entire nation was founded to have sponsored the doping of its athletes. As a result, Russia was banned from all major sporting events, including the Olympics, for four years. 

In an email exchange with NBC Sports when the initial decision was released, Demus was not shy about how she felt about the silver she won that day.

“I’m not afraid to say that I then deserve the official title, medal, recognition, and missed compensation that goes along with it all,” she said, per the Associated Press.