Yogeshwar Dutt’s Olympics bronze won’t be upgraded to silver

10/25/2016

Yogeshwar Dutt won't have his 2012 Olympic bronze medal upgraded to silver after the IOC decided to end the doping investigation on deceased wrestler Besik Kudukhov. The Russian had allegedly tested positive for a banned steroid when the IOC tested an old sample of the athlete.

Kudukhov, who won the silver medal at the London Olympics in the men’s freestyle 60kg category, passed away in 2013 in a car crash. The Russian Wrestling Federation had said that a sample from the 2012 Games had been retested and traces of banned substance Turinabol were detected.

Following the discovery, the case was passed to the IOC disciplinary commission, comprising of Denis Oswald of Switzerland, Sweden’s Gunilla Lindberg and Ugur Erdener from Turkey. The committee has, however, cleared the Russian of any wrongdoing.

“The International Olympic Committee will not deprive wrestler Besik Kudukhov of his silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London,” Georgy Bryusov, Vice President of the United World Wrestling, confirmed in the statement.

It was suggested that should Kudukhov be declared guilty in the investigation, Dutt’s bronze medal would be upgraded to silver.

However, the Indian wrestler had already said that he would refuse to accept an upgrade stating that the Russian’s family deserved to keep the medal.

“It will keep his family honour intact. For me, humanity is everything,” Dutt had said when the possible upgrade was suggested.