Russia hurdler Natalya Antyukh to lose 2012 Olympic gold medal for doping

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Russian 400-meter hurdler Natalya Antyukh will be stripped of her Olympic gold medal from the 2012 London Games due to doping, officials said.

The Athletics Integrity Unit, an independent body created to deal with integrity issues, said Wednesday that it has notified the International Olympic Committee of its ruling and will now proceed "with the reallocation of medals."

"The AIU remains committed to investigating all cases of potential violations and securing the appropriate outcomes," AIU head Brett Clothier said in a statement. "The integrity of the sport of athletics is our utmost priority and we are pleased, in this instance, that athletes who competed fairly at the highest level will ultimately be acknowledged as the rightful medal winners."

Antyukh had won the Olympic 400-meter gold medal with a time of 52.7 seconds, beating American Lashinda Demus by .07 seconds and Czech runner Zuzana Hejnova by nearly .7 of a second.

A decade after that race was run on Aug. 8, 2012, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency banned Antyukh on Oct. 21 on doping charges leveled against her by the AIU based on historical data that shows evidence of doping in Russian athletics.

The AIU made its announcement Wednesday after Antyukh failed to appeal the RSADA's decision before the 45-day deadline elapsed.

Antyukh was already serving a four-year sanction for a first violation that disqualified her results from June 30, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2015.

The new sanction disqualifies her results from July 15, 2012, to June 29, 2013, which includes the London Olympic Games.

With Antyukh's disqualification, Demus is expected to be officially named the gold-medal winner of the 400-meter hurdle, with Hejnova to be the new silver medalist and Jamaica's Kaliese Spencer to be bumped from fourth onto the podium.

"This is both the right thing and incredibly upsetting," four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson said on Twitter. "I received my [first gold medal] in front of my family and the world, reaped the financial benefits with endorsements and lived life as an Olympic Champion from that moment.

"Lashinda Demus was robbed of that. I couldn't imagine."