Spanish weightlifter receives 2008 Olympic silver after competitors fail doping retests

efeinternational 2018-01-16

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Madrid, Jan 16 (EFE), (Camera: Angel Herrera).- Spanish weightlifter Lydia Valentin on Tuesday received a silver medal from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, after improved tests for performance enhancing drugs led to the disqualification of several previous medal-winners whose samples were reanalyzed nearly a decade later.
Valentin came in fifth in Beijing, but after the first, third and fourth-place athletes were disqualified, the International Olympic Committee awarded her the women's 75 kilogram silver medal.
"The medal comes a little bit late, but it has come," the Spanish Olympic Committee's chairman, Alejandro Blanco, said during the ceremony held at its headquarters. "You have become an ambassador for clean sport, no one can stop you," he added.
Valentin already has a bronze medal from the 2016 Rio Olympics, and a decision is pending on whether she will receive a gold medal from the 2012 Olympics in London.


SHOT LIST: FOOTAGE OF THE MEDAL CEREMONY AND SOUND BITES OF LYDIA VALENTIN.


Keywords: efe,spain,olympic,medal,lydia valentin

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