It's not the forum in which you'd want to win an Olympic medal but it's a case of better late than never after confirmation finally came today that Rob Heffernan has been awarded a bronze medal from the 50km walk at the London 2012 Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) were due to decide on the cases of six Russian athletes who had been issued with “selective disqualifications" by the Russian Anti-doping Agency. One of those 'selective' decisions ensured that, although he failed a doping test in January 2015, Sergey Kirdyapkin's first place at the 2012 Olympics was allowed to stand by the Russian authorities.
The IAAF appealed that decision and, with one simple line of text, confirmation came from the CAS that Kirdyapkin's 2012 Olympic result has been stripped from the record.
All competitive results obtained by Mr Sergey Kirdyapkin from 20 August 2009 to 15 October 2012 are disqualified.
Although the CAS are unable to officially re-award medals, that is now a formality for the IAAF to complete in the coming weeks and Heffernan will finally get his hands on that piece of metal.
While that's obviously great news for Heffernan himself, it also serves to ensure that the 2012 Olympics are now set to become Ireland's most successful games with the team bringing home six medals for the first time ever.
Speaking on the Anton Savage show on Today FM just after the decision was announced, Heffernan was understandably elated. 'I'm over the moon. It's unreal' said the 38 year old who is currently in training for Rio 2016.
Jared Tallent, the Australian athlete who finished runner up to Kirdyapkin in 2012, was also fairly delighted with this morning's news.
History has been rewritten.... I am Olympic champion! pic.twitter.com/eRRCy6zqXt
— Jared Tallent OAM (@JaredTallent) March 24, 2016
