Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin presented belated 2012 Olympic silver in Paris

PARIS -- Twelve years after the competition ended, Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin has been awarded a silver medal from the London 2012 Olympics.

Drouin stood alongside American Erik Kynard, who was awarded the gold in the same event, as the two had their medals placed around their necks in a ceremony at the Paris Olympics on Friday.

Kynard and Drouin were originally awarded silver and bronze in London, but were both upgraded after Russia's Ivan Ukhov was stripped of the gold for a doping violation.

The now-retired athlete from Corunna, Ont., said the ceremonies are especially important to celebrate athletes who never got to stand on a podium or hear their national anthems. Drouin got that opportunity when he won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"I'm pained for Erik that he missed out on that opportunity, he obviously was on the podium but there's nothing like being in the stadium amongst the people who watched you compete and listening to your own national anthem," Drouin said.

Drouin was one of 10 Olympians who were presented with so-called "reallocated" medals during the ceremony at the space known as Champion's Park, at the Trocadero venue in Paris.

One by one, the athletes walked down a stage at the base of the Eiffel Tower, as highlight videos of their Oympic performances played on screen.

Drouin and Kynard stood together wearing their medals as the U.S. anthem was played, then posed for photos with their arms around each other.

Ukhov was one of 12 Russian track and field athletes who were found guilty in February of 2019 of state-backed doping. He received a doping ban, and his results from between July of 2012 to December of 2014 were disqualified, including his Olympic gold. The International Olympic Committee confirmed in 2021 that Drouin would retroactively receive the silver along with Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Robert Grabarz of Britain, who tied his score.

Drouin became Canada's first Olympic champion since 1932 in an athletics field event when he won gold in Rio. Injuries stopped him from trying to defend his title in Tokyo, and he has since stopped competing.

On Friday, Drouin said he didn't have any negative feelings towards Ukhov, who he said was part of a Russian doping scandal that was "much more widespread than just any one individual athlete."

"I don't harbor any ill will toward him," he said. "I don't think really any individual athlete in this scenario can really be, or should really be, held accountable in the way that maybe other doping scandals have been." Emma Terho, the chair of the IOC athletes commission, said in a news release that the ceremonies "result from the athletes' voice being taking into account in decision-making," and give competitors whose rivals were later disqualified a chance to have their Olympic moment in front of family, friends and crowds. Those honoured Friday had competed as far back as Sydney 2000. Some, including Kynard, received medals in front of their children who hadn't yet been born when the competition took place.

Speaking after his ceremony, Kynard said he's glad athletes who respect the rules of sport are getting a proper ceremony, adding that he'd been a "fly on the wall" when American shot-putter Adam Nelson received his retroactive 2004 Olympic gold medal in an airport food court.

Kynard, who is now a high performance director for USA Track & Field, said his experience in sport motivated him to try to ensure other athletes don't go through the same things he did.

"I've been saying it for a while, I'm not bitter (from) my experience, I'm trying to make things better based on my experience," he said.

Kynard said he was asked to hand in his original silver medal several years ago, and put it in a ziploc bag and sent it off in the mail. When asked if the wait for a new medal was agonizing, he said it wasn't, and shared a piece of advice he gives to younger athletes who miss the podium.

"Athletics is an occupation, it's not an identity," he said. "And it's important to find either the silver or gold lining in who you are and not focus so much on what it is that you do, because the world gets it wrong."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug 9, 2024.