Back in the 2012 Olympics in London, Rob Heffernan finished in an agonising fourth place in the mens 50km race walk. The winner of that race was Sergey Kirdyapkin from Russia who would later fail a drugs test.
RUSADA...the Russian Doping Agency...banned Kirdyapkin for three years and two months from 15.10.2012, with the cancellation of the results of the July 20, 2009 - September 20, 2009, June 29, 2010 - August 29, 2010 December 17, 2011 - June 11, 2012. In other words, he was somehow clean for the Olympic Games which of course was a farce.
Today...the 24th of March 2016.....the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have decided the following...
"Sergey Kirdyapkin...All competitive results obtained by Mr Sergey Kirdyapkin from 20 August 2009 to 15 October 2012 are disqualified".
This should mean that Rob Hefferan will be retrospectively awarded the bronze medal from the 50km walk at the London 2012 Games.
Of course, medal or no medal Rob is still straining hard for Rio as seen in the Mardyke today...
What do you do if you've just been awarded an Olympic bronze? Go training! Congrats @RM_Heffernan !!! pic.twitter.com/NtQygHtUUb
— RTERoadToRio (@RTERoadToRio) March 24, 2016
Delighted. What a hard worker.
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