Ennis-Hill to receive gold medal at world champs

LONDON -  Retired British athletics great Jessica Ennis-Hill will have another moment in the sun when she receives a belated gold medal at August's World Championships in London, British media reports suggested on Saturday.

Ennis-Hill -- who experienced the greatest moment of her stellar career when winning heptathlon Olympic gold at the 2012 Olympics in London -- and compatriot Jo Pavey will be awarded world championship medals after athletes were stripped of them for failing dope tests. Ennis-Hill would step up to gold after 2011 champion Tatyana Chernova tested positive for steroids -- though she is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) -- and Pavey a bronze from the 2007 edition as Turkish silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse has been disqualified also for steroids.

American Kara Goucher will be promoted to silver. Ethiopia-born Abeylegesse was also stripped of her Olympic silvers in the 5000 and 10000m from Beijing in 2008. Sebastian Coe, president of the sport's governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said the world championships in London would be an appropriate setting to give them their belated recognition.

"It should be done at a world championships," Coe said. "These medals cannot just be sent recorded delivery. You might think I am joking but that is what has happened in the past. Athletes have had that moment ripped away, so the very least we can do is try to create the right platform to reverse that. We can't just say: 'Sorry about that, but here you go -- you've got your medal now, take it down to your local pub.' They should be handed over in London."

Organisers of the championships are apparently for the idea and have pin-pointed August 11th as a potential date for the ceremonies.

 

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