Lashinda Demus and Erik Kaynard Jr. to receive their gold medals from London Games at Paris Olympics 2024

Retired 400m hurdler Lashinda Demus and high jumper Erik Kynard will receive the gold medals in their respective events at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In 2012, both were denied gold by two Russian athletes in London, who tested positive for doping later.

Demus, the 2011 World Championships gold medalist, contested prominent names at the 2012 London Olympics but faced defeat at the hands of Russian hurdler Natalya Antyukh. In 2022, when the doping samples from the 2012 Olympiad were retested for the second time, Antyukh, guilty of doping, forfeited her results from July 15, 2012 onwards.

This automatically handed the gold to Demus on paper. 12 years later, the 41-year-old will receive the honor wrapped around her neck, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The two-time world champion negotiated with the IOC for a "reallocation" ceremony in the Summer Games.

Meanwhile, Erik Kynard, the high jump athlete from the U.S., lost to his Russian counterpart Ivan Ukhov at his debut Olympiad in London. Later in 2021, Ukhov was disqualified after the doping sample retest, thus his gold was given to Kynard.

Celebrating the athletes' belated achievements, Team USA announced the news on Instagram.

"Everything earned. @erik_kynard and @ldemus will receive their Olympic gold medals from London 2012 in front of the Eiffel Tower this summer at the #ParisOlympics!"

In an interview with The Associated Press, Lashinda Demus expressed a desire to receive the honor in "glitz and glam" at the track stadium. However, the IOC thought that the Champions Park in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower was not a bad idea. The ceremony will be held on August 9, 2024, at the Champions Park, Paris.

Demus also said that having upgraded to the gold after so long wasn't as exciting to her and that she wanted the IOC to bestow the honor on the international stage.

"But one thing I did know was that I was on an international stage. And whatever happens, I wanted to receive this upgrade on an international stage," Demus said.

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Lashinda Demus on losing in 400m hurdles she trained all her life for: "I didn’t let that infiltrate my thinking"

Lashinda Demus had never lost to Antyukh until she ran faster than Demus at the London Olympics. The latter was ready to move on, but when she learned about the foul play that Antyukh pulled off, she was disheartened.

"But it wasn’t in my mindset that anyone who beats me is automatically dirty. I didn’t let that infiltrate my thinking. I just kind of accepted that I lost and I tried my best to move on. But it was a five- or six-year process of me just getting over failing at something I’d trained my whole life to do," Demus said (via the aforementioned source).

The 41-year-old, now a mother of four, coaches at Culver City High School near Los Angeles. She also serves as a clinical researcher in a medical care company.