Paris (from our correspondent) – The medals were not sold at the Stade de France, but in the center of the city at the Trocadéro square in the Park of Champions. Athletes from the current games come to celebrate their medals there with their fans, but the area where the opening ceremony took place is also used for the allocation of precious metals from previous Olympics. Summer and winter.
Athletes and weightlifters enjoyed the extra ceremonies on Friday and it was an unusual sight at times. In some disciplines, only one athlete stood on the podium in front of hundreds of spectators, for example the Jamaican Beverly McDonald is already 54 years old and received a medal from the Sydney Games almost a quarter of a century ago, when she moved to the bronze position…
Photo: ČTK / Petrášek Radek, Profimedia.cz
Zuzana Hejnová’s medal joy at the London Olympics in an archive photo from 2012.
The ceremony of the hurdlers from London had a more dignified format. All three medalists gathered at the Trocadero, the newly gold-winning American Lashinda Demusová, the silver-winning Zuzana Hejnová and the bronze-winning Jamaican Kaliese Spencerová.
Natalja Anťuchová, who won Olympic gold at the age of 31, outpaced everyone on the track in London. She also won silver with the relay, she received the Russian state award.
In 2016, however, she found out that she would lose her relay medal after compatriot Antonina Krivošapková’s positive doping test. And in the next four years, her fraud was also revealed. A long legal and administrative journey followed until, after twelve years, the medals finally reached their rightful owners.
“That’s not a big surprise, we suspected it. And it’s nice to have a better position, even though I probably came out the best. There is no difference between third and second place, like when you have gold instead of silver or bronze instead of fourth place,” Hejnová said after the verdict was confirmed.
Demusová listened to the American anthem while looking at the Eiffel Tower, 37-year-old Hejnová, accompanied by her friend Marko and trainer Dana Jandová, will take away from her several-day visit to Paris a silver medal, which she can display at home alongside her two gold medals from the World Championships .
