Fri | Sep 20, 2024

Former Jamaican athletes get reallocated Olympic medals at Paris arising from disqualifications

Published:Friday | August 9, 2024 | 10:26 AM
Gladstone Taylor photo.

Olympians Beverly McDonald, Chelsea Hammond Ross and Kaliese Spencer-Carter were officially awarded their reallocated Olympic medals at a ceremony held today at Champions Park at Trocadero Gardens in Paris, France.

France is hosting the 2024 Olympic Games.

Paraded in front of fans with the Eiffel Tower in the background, McDonald, Hammond Ross and Spencer-Carter received their medals from the 2000 Sydney, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London games respectively.

McDonald was given her upgraded bronze medal in the women's 200m after American Marion Jones, who won gold, admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs. 

Hammond Ross was upgraded to bronze in the women's long jump in 2008 after retests of then silver medal winner Russian Tatyana Lebedeva in 2017 revealed a banned substance and was disqualified. 

Spencer-Carter got her upgraded bronze from the 400m hurdles final in London because of the disqualification of Natalya Antyukh in fallout from the Russian doping scandal. 

Antyukh finished ahead of Spencer for third in that final.

- Daniel Wheeler

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