Former Gamecock waits 4,384 days for Olympic Gold

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Being first is a sense of pride for U.S. Olympian Lashinda Demus and she has made groundbreaking history once again.

The Olympian and former University of South Carolina track star is the first athlete ever to receive a medal reallocation ceremony at an Olympic games.

Demus will have her gold medal for the 400-meter hurdles race from the 2012 London Olympics awarded in the Paris’ Champions Park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on August 9th at this year’s Olympic Games.

“It’s awesome to be a part of this and I know that I’m the staple for this process and that’s really cool,” Demus said.

Getting to this point was a long journey. She was named the gold medalist five months after the original gold medalist, Russia’s Natalya Antyukh, was retroactively disqualified for doping in 2022. However, what might be a long-awaited announcement came through with little fanfare.

It was a friend on Instagram who broke the news to Demus.

“I didn’t even believe it was true,” Demus recalled. “If I haven’t heard anything official, why would I believe this? So I still had to confirm that the source was valid.”

She admitted she felt indifferent initially, having moved on with her life and put the disappointment behind her. She said it was when she started working with an international lawyer and speaking with the International Olympic Committee about receiving the medal that her excitement set in.

Still, her work was just getting started. The IOC offered multiple options, but Demus continued to fight for what she thought was fair.

“You can get a medal at a US Nationals,” Demus recalled the IOC offering. “I said that’s out of the question. I’m an international athlete, it was an international stage, and I want to receive my medal internationally. So that was out. They said, ‘ok we can do a World’s Championship.’ I’m like not big enough. Not enough viewers. Billions of people are watching the Olympic games. I need more. And so then they came with, ‘Ok we cannot get you in this Olympic Stadium but this is what we’re going to do.”

Demus said she hopes this sets a precedent other athletes can expect to see offered in the future.

“I told the IOC that I want to be a part of these conversations moving forward,” Demus said. “Not as someone that is going against you but someone that is advocating for athletes. I know what they put in, I know the time they put in and what they sacrifice so we should go as far as we need to go that they feel that they’re receiving the applause that they should.”

August 9th will be 4,384 days from when Demus ran her race at the London Olympics. While she admits this ceremony will never be the moment she envisioned during her training all those years ago, she is excited to share it with her husband and children.

“I think this moment means the most to me because my family is a part of it,” Demus said. “Just to include [my sons] on my life experience and bring them along is kind of what I’m most looking forward to. I’m happy that justice has been served and that I’m receiving what I earned. Although it was not, it’s never going to feel like the moment when you’re there at the games and you’re able to do a victory lap and you’re standing on the podium but it is a closure that I think is needed for me that I’m glad to have.”

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