Ireland’s Olive Loughnane is looking forward to collecting her World Championship gold medal and described the recent decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as a “good day for clean sport”.
Loughnane will become a world champion, while Robert Heffernan will be awarded an Olympic bronze medal after the CAS upheld six appeals today filed by the IAAF against Russian athletes.
“A good day for clean sport”
Olga Kaniskina originally won gold in the women's 20km walk at the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009, with the Irish athlete finishing second.
However, the CAS verdict means the now-retired Irish athlete will become the country's fourth world champion, joining an elite club comprising of Eamonn Coghlan, Sonia O'Sullivan and fellow walker Heffernan.
The four-time Olympian tweeted her excitement today ahead of the imminent arrival of her medal.
“Well just a little while longer until I get my paws on it!” she posted on her official account while adding that the verdicts represented “a good day for clean sport”.
Well just a little while longer until I get my paws on it! https://t.co/KdoZxboQLV
— Olive Loughnane (@OliveLoughnane) March 25, 2016
That upgrade means that the London Games are now Ireland's most successful ever, bringing the medal tally to six - one more than the five won at Melbourne in 1956.
