A dozen years after competing in what turned out to be his last Olympic Games, former South Korean weightlifter Jeon Sang-guen received his bronze medal in a ceremony in Paris on Friday.

In a special ceremony by the Eiffel Tower on the sidelines of the 33rd Olympic Games, Jeon was belatedly presented with the bronze medal from the men’s +105-kilogram event at the 2012 London Olympics.

Jeon, now 43 and long retired from the sport, originally placed fourth with a total of 436kg. Ruslan Albegov of Russia had taken the bronze medal at 448kg.

However, Albegov was stripped of that medal in March this year due to doping, and the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board approved the reallocation of the medal that same month.

Jeon is one of three South Korean weightlifters who have been elevated to the podium for the London Games following doping cases for their competitors.

Jang Mi-ran, currently vice sports minister, moved up from fourth place to third in the women’s +75kg event. Jang, who won the 200
8 Olympic gold in that same division, has not yet received her 2012 medal.

In the men’s 94kg class, Kim Min-jae went all the way up from eighth place to the silver medal, after all three medalists, plus those who finished fourth, sixth and seventh, were disqualified after testing positive for banned substances. Kim received his silver medal in October 2019.

Source: Yonhap News Agency