Dutt's London Olympics bronze medal upgraded to silver

In a great news for the Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, his 2012 London Olympics Bronze medal has been upgraded to silver after Russia’s Besik Kudukhov failed the dope test. He tweeted confirming the news, "This morning I got to know that my Olympic medal has been upgraded to Silver. I dedicate this medal to my countrymen". Now, Dutt is the second wrestler from India to win a silver medal at the London Games as he joins countryman Sushil Kumar, who finished second in the 66kg freestyle wrestling category in 2012. Four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov, who died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, was tested positive on the dope test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency. As a result, Dutt, who had bagged a bronze medal in the men's 60kg freestyle category in the London Games, has moved up to silver. Kudukhov, who finished second in the 60 kg freestyle event, died in a car accident in Russia in 2013 when he was just 27 years old.

The World Anti-Doping Agency re-tested the Russian champion's sample and found that it tested positive for banned substances. The samples have now been stored for up to 10 years so that they can be used for advanced testing methods to catch dope-tainted athletes. "The samples of five wrestlers, including Russia's Besik Kudukhov (60 kg) and Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov's (120 kg), have tested positive for banned substances. Kudukhov failed a dope test in re-tests of samples collected during the London Games. In Taymazov's case, the re-tests date back to samples collected from the Beijing Games (2008). Kudukhov is a silver medallist and Taymazon a gold-medal winner. They will lose their medals. With Kudukhov testing positive, Yogeshwar Dutt of India will get the silver," the sources in United World Wrestling (UWW) were quoted as saying.