Cuba Drops to 16th Place at London Games
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban delegation to the Olympic Games in London was bumped down a notch on Monday when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it was withdrawing the gold medal won by Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus after findings of her having used banned anabolic steroids, reported the Café Fuerte website.
By suspending the athlete, the title went to New Zealander Valerie Adams, who is now the shot put winner in the London games. With this change, New Zealand picked up six gold medals (6-2-5), relegating Cuba (5-3-6) to 16th place in the final medals standing.
Adams, the champion in Beijing in 2008, retains her reigning Olympic position, while Russia’s Evgeniia Kolodko moved up to silver and Lijiao Gong of China will now receive a bronze.