There is no compensation for what Olympic hurdler Lashinda Demus lost the day she finished 0.07 seconds behind a Russian opponent who, everyone later discovered, was doping.
The American 400 meter hurdles champion will enjoy a beautiful day under the Eiffel Tower where she will receive the gold medal that was denied to her 12 years ago at the London Olympic Games.
Demus, now 41 and the mother of four boys, said so much time had passed that she wasn’t very excited when she learned last year that the medal won for the first times by Natalya Antyukh would come back to him.
“But one thing I knew was that I was on the international stage,” Demus said. “And whatever happens, I wanted to benefit from this upgrade on the international stage.”
With the help of a lawyer and the determination not to accept the IOC’s first offer – normally a presentation at a national or world championship – Demus negotiated a deal to receive the medal on August 9 at the Paris Olympics. , at the Parc des Champions in Paris. the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
This will be the first time the IOC has held a “re-awarding” ceremony during the Summer Games.
Demus will bring her husband and children along for the trip. She started a Go to the Fund me page to raise money to bring his parents, maybe his grandmother and other friends and family members.
She said she bears no ill will against the IOC during the decade-plus it took to get this medal. But she wanted more than just a pro forma commemoration of this moment. What she really wanted was a ceremony at the athletics stadium, but the IOC told her that wasn’t possible. The Eiffel Tower isn’t a bad backup plan.
“I would have appreciated a little more, I guess, glitz and glamor for the people receiving their medals,” Demus said belatedly. “It is a work in progress. I move forward in good faith. I am happy to be at the forefront in this field. I can literally say that I am the pioneer of this movement.
Other medalists that day included Zuzana Hejnová of the Czech Republic and Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica, who finished behind Demus in the 400m. Also in the group of 10: American high jumper Erik Kynard, who finished second behind the Russian, proved to be dope.
Demus estimates she lost in the seven figures when it comes to what she could have done if she had returned home in 2012 as a gold medalist. She had battled injuries all season and felt that getting to the start line at the Olympics was a victory of sorts.
When Antyukh beat her to the finish line by less than half a step, Demus said it occurred to her that the Russian had never beaten her before.
“But I didn’t think anyone would automatically beat me dirty. I didn’t let that seep into my thinking,” she said. “I kind of accepted the fact that I lost and did my best to move on. But it took me five or six years to recover from failing at something I had trained for my whole life.
It wasn’t until details came to light about a massive doping scandal in Russia that began in the early 2010s that Demus began to view his loss in a different light. Even then, it took years before Antyukh was accused of doping.
After stepping away from the sport for a few years, Demus returned to coaching at Culver City High School near Los Angeles. She works as a clinical researcher for a healthcare company. She has 16-year-old twins and two other sons, aged 4 and 5.
She said she’s excited to be able to feel like a gold medalist this summer at the Olympics, even though the award will be presented to her about 12 years after the race.
She is also under no illusion that her journey to gold – 400 meters, over 4,384 days – will mark a major turning point in the fight against doping in world sport. Because of doping and, this year, the war in Ukraine, the last Olympics the Russians brought a full track team to remains the same 2012 Games that ultimately made Demus an Olympic champion.
“It doesn’t break my heart,” she said. “But what comes to mind is that (doping) is never going to go away. I don’t think anything has changed since the big Russian scandal. I think it will always be there.
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PA Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
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