The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, told RIA Novosti on Thursday he would lobby IOC officials to present cyclist Viatcheslav Ekimov with the gold medal for the road individual time trial in Athens in 2004.
Ekimov, a gold medalist at Seoul 1988 and Sydney 2000, came second in Athens to American Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton’s title was revoked after he tested positive for blood doping, but he was allowed to keep the medal after lab workers accidentally destroyed his B sample.
Hamilton relinquished the medal to the U.S. anti-doping agency, and confessed in May to taking banned substances after years of denials. However, Ekimov has not yet received his medal.
“I’ll speak with the leaders of the International Olympic Committee about this. They have the request to pass on the medal, so the question is how quickly they can do it,” Zhukhov said.
If the issue is not settled before the London Olympics next year, the medal will be transferred to the Olympic museum.
