LAUSANNE, Switzerland—American runner Lashinda Demus officially became an Olympic champion on Thursday, at the age of 40 and more than a decade after the 2012 London Games.
Demus was formally reallocated the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles by the International Olympic Committee because of the disqualification of Natalya Antyukh in fallout from the Russian doping scandal.
On the London track on Aug. 8, 2012, Demus finished 0.07 seconds behind Antyukh, who was implicated last year in the second doping case of her career.
Russia’s Natalya Antyukh (right) powers ahead of United States’ Lashinda Demus to win gold in the women’s 400-meter hurdles final during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on Aug. 8, 2012. (Daniel Ochoa De Olza/AP Photo)
Historical evidence recovered from a Moscow testing laboratory database let track’s Athletics Integrity Unit decide last October to strip Antyukh of all her results from July 2012 through June 2013….