SCOTS legend Lee McConnell is set to become an Olympic fourth-placed finisher twice over after Games chiefs stripped yet another Russian of a medal due to a drugs bust.
The re-testing of samples from London 2012 has uncovered the use of banned steroid turinabol by Antonina Krivoshapka who helped the Russians to 4x400m relay sliver behind the United States.
The IOC have ruled that the positive test will see the quartet erased from the record books, promoting Jamaica into second with Ukraine – who included Olha Zemlyak and Nataliya Pyhyda, both previously suspended for using anabolic steroids – now receiving what will be a controversial bronze.
And there will be a sense of deja vue for the now-retired McConnell who was previously denied a 4x400m bronze from the Athens 2004 Games when athletics chiefs refused to strip the USA of their gold and elevate GB&NI to bronze, even though American participant Crystal Cox was subsequently banned for doping.
“The punishments just aren’t tough enough,” the Scot said of that decision. “The deterrents have to be strong, otherwise people will still have the incentive to use drugs. And teams shouldn’t keep medals if one of them was cheating.”
The latest round of re-tests from past Games also found that Russian discus thrower Vera Ganeeva and Turkish boxer Adem Kilicci were guilty of steroid use although neither had picked medals in 2012.
The three positive tests took the total to 40 adverse findings from 492 samples re-analysed from the London 2012 Olympics.
Meanwhile the UK’s 60m hurdles world leader Andrew Pozzi is to go head to head with Rio Olympic silver and bronze medallists Orlando Ortega and Dimitri Bascou, as well as rising star David Omoregie, at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham later this month.
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