It took American Lacinda Demas 52.77 seconds to run the women's 400m hurdles at the 2012 London Olympics. It took her more than 10 years for her to rise from second place to first place. One year after her decision and 12 years after racing, she is still waiting for the gold medal.
One of her American teammates, Eric Kinard Jr., competed in the high jump at the London Games. Like Demas, she was beaten by a Russian athlete who was later convicted of doping. And like Demas, he had to wait years to be named the winner. He has also never won a gold medal.
Demuth and Kinnard are expected to ultimately win medals during this summer's Paris Olympics, according to officials with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee. Details are still being worked out. Officials hope a resolution can be reached soon.
But nearly two years after the conclusion of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the wait continues for the nine American figure skaters who were promoted to first place in the team event in January. He has filed multiple appeals to have his gold medal stripped from him due to doping scandals. If that happens, new legal battles could continue for at least several months.
All three lawsuits raise long-standing concerns about the inability of international sports officials to balance their commitment to clean sport and fair play with providing timely justice to deserving athletes. highlighted. There are various reasons. Test vulnerability. Lack of a unified international approach in anti-doping systems. The appeals process is often long and the outcome is personal.
Since the Olympic moment has passed, dozens of athletes have won gold, silver and bronze medals. Some, like 41-year-old Demas and 33-year-old Kinard, retired from the sport before finding a solution. Some ended up celebrating what was supposed to be a career highlight with a shrug.
“It makes the IOC look very bad,” said Bill Mallon, an Olympic historian who tracks medal redistribution. “In the NBA and NFL, when the game is over, you know who won.”
Kinard said in an interview that one year seems reasonable to resolve the doping scandal and redistribute the medals, but “12 years is not enough.”
Mr Kinard said his faith and trust in the Olympic movement had become “lower and lower” during the ordeal. But he also said he learned not to define himself by the results of sporting events. He laughed at one point and said there was one consolation in waiting for the gold medal. He is “looking forward to giving my youngest child a new teething toy.”
Receiving a postponed medal confirms the athlete's sincerity and brings peace of mind. However, waiting can also cause mental stress and, especially for gold medalists, can result in a significant loss of financial opportunity.
Kinard estimated he lost at least $500,000 in prize money, sponsorships and appearance fees that he could have claimed as Olympic champion. Twelve years later, the meaning of the gold medal has faded “like a participation trophy,” he said.
Belated medals were often delivered quietly, sometimes with little dignity. Adam Nelson, the presumed winner of the shot put competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics after the apparent winner was disqualified for doping, accepts his gold medal outside a Burger King at the Atlanta airport nine years later.
Mr Nelson said he was filled with “a real sense of loss” rather than joy as the tension of receiving his medal at the airport rather than at the competition venue in Greece's Olympia, the sacred home of the ancient Olympics, reached a crescendo. Told.
Demas, who is currently a high school track and field coach, did not respond to requests for comment. When she was finally named the 2012 hurdles champion last year, she expressed mixed emotions. In an email to NBC Sports, she wrote that banned substance users should be stripped of their medals, adding that “no other athlete should be considered as good as her in terms of official titles, medals, recognition, and honors.” I don't want anyone to experience a similar loss.” She missed out on the compensation that came with it all. ”
According to Olympic historian Maron, there have been 164 events in which medals have been redistributed or canceled since drug testing began in the Olympics in 1968.
Perhaps most infamously, six of the top seven men's 207-pound weightlifters at the London Olympics (including all three original medalists) were later disqualified for doping. The eventual winner was Iranian Saeed Mohammadpour, who finished fifth in the first result.
Anti-doping authorities are often on the back foot in a never-ending game of pharmacological cat and mouse with athletes using banned substances and blood-enhancing drugs. As more cutting-edge detection technology is developed to increase the effectiveness of drug tests, blood and urine samples can be stored and retested for up to 10 years.
(When he retired from elite competition in 2022, Kynard was suspended for six months after posting on social media that he was using more saline drips than he was allowed to use to help with his recovery.) U.S. anti-doping officials said they did not use these substances, but the violation still requires punishment. ).
Even a slight delay could cause a competitor to miss out on every Olympian's dream of standing atop the podium at the Olympics, seeing the flag raised and hearing the national anthem played.
“If a system doesn't work and is disrespected, there is no good system to replace it,” said Nelson, who is currently the high school's athletic director. “In the Olympic cycle, the Olympics happen once every four years. You can't go back and rewrite that history. That moment has passed.”
Since 2018, the IOC and the sport's governing body have been searching for a more civilized way to award the postponed medals. Possible locations in Paris for Demuth and Kinard to win gold include the Olympic Stadium, where the track and field events will be held, and the park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, where all medalists will be invited. To celebrate among family, friends and thousands of spectators.
Mr Kinnard said the Olympic stadium seemed unlikely to be chosen as it would probably be embarrassing for the IOC to publicly admit “how bad this has turned out”. The IOC said it aims to resolve the situation dignifiedly by giving athletes the option “that best suits their preferences.”
If the appeal process for figure skating for the 2022 Beijing Olympics is completed in time for the Paris Games, which remains uncertain, nine American athletes could be awarded gold medals at the closing ceremony.
Ice dancer Madison Chock, 31, and her husband Evan Bates, 35, said during a conference call in January that they felt “an underlying feeling of maybe a little bit of sadness and disappointment over missing the Olympics. I experienced some small emotions.” for a moment. “
Sarah Hirshland, chief executive of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said protecting the integrity of the sport should be a top priority. But she also called the long wait for relief from Demas and Kinnard “horrible” and “unacceptable.”
“We have a chance to get it right. That's what we have to do,” she said.
