Russian runner Natalya Antyukh stripped of 2012 Olympics title for doping

The 400m hurdles champion was stripped of her win on historical evidence recovered from a Moscow testing laboratory database

Natalya Antyukh finished 0.07 seconds ahead of USA’s Lashinda Demus in the 400m hurdles final at the 2012 London Olympics. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Russian runner Natalya Antyukh was disqualified on Monday from her 400-meter hurdles win at the 2012 London Olympics for doping, and Lashinda Demus of the United States is set to be upgraded to the gold medal.

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.

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At the 2012 Olympics, on August 8, Demus finished 0.07 seconds behind the Russian winner.

Now aged 39, Demus is in line to become an Olympic champion for the first time and get a gold medal from the International Olympic Committee to add to her world title won in 2011.

The bronze medalist 10 years ago, Zuzana Hejnová of the Czech Republic should be upgraded to silver, and the bronze is set to go to Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica.

The AIU did not specify evidence against Antyukh from the Moscow database that was part of a years-long standoff between the World Anti-Doping Agency and Russian authorities.

The latest case was prosecuted at national level in Russia and can be appealed, the Monaco-based AIU said.