Press Trust of India
New Delhi, August 31: Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt stated Wednesday that he is not keen to collect the upgraded silver medal from 2012 London Olympics finalist Besik Kudukhov on humanitarian grounds given that the original second place finisher’s positive dope test came after his death.
“Besik Kudukhov shandaar pehelwaan the (Besik Kudukhov was a magnificent wrestler). Unke mirtyu ke baad dope test mein fail ho jana bahut dukht hai (His dope test returning positive after his death is very sad). Main khiladi ke roop mein unka samaan karta hoon (As a wrestler, I respect him),” Yogeshwar wrote on his twitter handle.
“Agar ho sak-e toh yeh medal unhi ke paas rehne diya jaaye (If possible he must be allowed to keep the medal). Unke pariwar ke liye bhi samaan purna hoga (It will keep his family’s honour intact). Mere liye manaviya samvedana sarvopari hai (For me humanity is above everything else),” he further wrote.
The four-time World Champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov, who had died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, failed a WADA dope test conducted on his sample from 2012 before the Rio Games. As a result, Yogeshwar, who had bagged a bronze medal in men’s 60kg freestyle category was upgraded to silver.
The 33-year-old wrestler would be handed a silver medal after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) gets the confirmation in writing from the World body (UWW).
Meanwhile in a separate development, the WFI also informed that the wrestler will only get his silver medal after WADA clears his sample from the London Games.
“Yogeshwar’s tests are also being conducted and once his dope test comes out clean, then only he will be handed the silver medal,” a WFI official said on the condition of anonymity here.
As per WADA’s revised norms, samples taken for dope tests from international tournaments are now being stored in deep freeze up to 10 years in order to allow the use of advanced technology, available with the passage of time, to catch the dope cheats to ensure that ‘the clean athletes get justice even if it comes a bit late’.