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The wait is over

Kaliese Spencer set to receive 2012 Olympic bronze after Antyukh’s disqualification

Published:Friday | December 23, 2022 | 12:08 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
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Jamaica’s 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker (left) stands next to teammate Kaliese Spencer during training at the Birmingham University on the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Ricardo Makyn
Jamaica’s 400m hurdles champion Melaine Walker (left) stands next to teammate Kaliese Spencer during training at the Birmingham University on the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer (left) goes in chase of the United States’ Lashinda Demus during the 2012 Olympic Games in Birmingham, England.
Ricardo Makyn
Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer (left) goes in chase of the United States’ Lashinda Demus during the 2012 Olympic Games in Birmingham, England.
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OLYMPIAN KALIESE Spencer will earn an Olympic bronze medal after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) officially disqualified the victory of Russian athlete Natalya Antyukh at the 2012 London Olympics.

Antyukh had the results from July 2012 to June 2013 expunged on October 25 as a result of a ban for the use of a prohibited substance or method based on database evidence.

It was in the same period where Antyukh won the 400m hurdles at the 2012 Games ahead of American Lashinda Demus. Spencer finished fourth in the final in a season’s best time of 53.66 seconds. Antyukh had 45 days to appeal the decision.

With no appeal coming within those 45 days, the AIU, in a release today, said it executed the sanctions.

“The decision became binding and the AIU proceeded with the next steps to send a sanction memo to World Athletics’ Competition Department to disqualify the athlete’s results and thereafter to notify the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that World Athletics has modified the relevant results and rankings on their website,” the statement read.

“The IOC may now proceed with the reallocation of medals and the update of the IOC database.”

The ruling means that Spencer will be upgraded to third, giving her her first individual Olympic medal. Demus has been upgraded to gold, while Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova has been upgraded to second.