Olympian Chaunte Lowe in line for bronze medal eight years after Beijing Olympics
The International Olympic Committee stripped 10 Olympic medals from athletes after re-testing of drug samples from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing tested positive for banned substances.
Nine of the athletes are from former Soviet nationals. No gold medals were stripped.
Three medals will change hands in weightlifting and wrestling respectively. In track and field, Greek triple jumper Chrysopigi Devetzi and Ukrainian pole vaulter Denys Yurchenko will be disqualified from their bronze medal finishes. Six non-medalists were removed from the results.
The re-testing of the drug samples puts American pole vaulter Derek Miles and high jumper Chaunte Lowe in line to inherit bronze medals.
At the 2004 Olympics in Beijing, she initially placed sixth. She moved up one spot last month when Russia's Anna Chicherova tested positive for the steroid turinabol. Thursday's IOC sanctions disqualify Russia's Elena Slesarenko, who also won gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and Ukraine's Vita Palamar. The rulings put Lowe into third place. Lowe is now 32 years old and a mother of three. She is coming off a fourth place finish at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which was an improvement from her sixth place finish in London just four years prior.
Lowe shared her excitement on Instagram on Thursday afternoon.
After Thursday's decision by the IOC, 22 weightlifters tested positive and have been sanctioned from the 2008 Olympics.
