After a disappointing performance at Rio Olympics 2016, Yogeshwar Dutt now has something to cheer about. Dutt who won the bronze medal at London Olympics in 2012, got out of the Rio Olympics 2016 in the qualification round itself. His London Olympics medal, though, will now get upgraded to silver. This pleasantly surprising upgrade is as a result of the silver medal winner’s failed dope test. Russia’s Besik Kudukhov had won the Silver in the 60-kg freestyle event in London in 2012. Kudukhov is being stripped of his silver while Dutt’s bronze from London Olympics has been upgraded to a silver.
Kudushov, a world famous wrestler, had died in December 2013, one year after the London Olympics in a car crash in Russia. He was a four-time world champion and had also won the Bronze in 2008 Beijing Olympics. Another wrestler Artur Taymazov from Uzbekistan will get stripped of his gold medal from 2008 Olympics. Taymazov is one the most decorated wrestlers in the world. Even after he lost his Gold from the 2008 games, he is left with two more Golds and a Silver
These are a result of a rule where samples from previous games get retested and this time both Kusushov and Taymazov’s samples have tested positive for banned substances. The Indian Express quoted a source saying, “The samples of five wrestlers, including Russia’s Besik Kudukhov (60 kg) and Uzbekistan’s Artur Taymazov’s (120 kg), have tested positive for banned substances. Kudukhov failed a dope test in re-tests of samples collected during the London Games. In Taymazov’s case, the re-tests date back to samples collected from the Beijing Games (2008)……. Yogeshwar Dutt of India will get the silver.”
Though the official announcement is still awaited, at 60 kg, Yogeshwar looks to join India’s Sushil Kumar as a silver medalist from the 2012 Olympics. North Korea’s Ri Jong-Myong, Dutt’s opponent for the bronze should move up from fifth to get it. Dutt had defeated Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran and Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico also to get bronze in the repechage round. Shooter Vijay Kumar also won the silver medal at the London games.