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American hurdler Lashinda Demus is in line to receive the gold medal from the 400-meter hurdles at the 2012 London Olympics after Russian athlete Natalya Antyukh had her results disqualified by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Monday.
Antyukh, 41, had her results from July 2012 to June 2013 disqualified, including the Olympic gold-medal run, when she finished 0.07 of a second ahead of Demus. She was already serving a four-year ban until 2025 for breaking anti-doping rules. That ruling was handed down last year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
At the time, the CAS said all her competitive results from June 2013 through the beginning of the period of her ineligibility, April 2021, were disqualified.
Demus, 39, will be upgraded to gold if the International Olympic Committee acts on the AIU ruling. The bronze medalist 10 years ago, Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic, would be upgraded to silver, and the bronze is set to go to Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica.
The AIU ruling against Antyukh can be appealed.
Antyukh also won a 400-meter bronze in 2004 and a silver in the 4×400-meter relay in 2008. She lost her 4×400-meter relay silver from 2012 when teammate Antonina Krivoshapka was found guilty of doping.
Several other Russian athletes have also had their medals from the 2012 Olympics stripped due to anti-doping violations.
The list includes Mariya Savinova (800m), Olga Kaniskina (20K walk), Svetlana Shkolina (high jump), Tatyana Lysenko (hammer), Darya Pishchalnikova (discus) and Tatyana Chernova (heptathlon). In the men’s track and field events, Sergey Kirdyapkin (50K walk) and Ivan Ukhov (high jump) had their medals stripped.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.