Athletics: Ukrainian discus thrower Mariia Pomazan has still not returned her mistakenly awarded gold medal

 

Pa
Wednesday 05 September 2012 09:28 EDT
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Mariia Pomazan with the gold medal at the original ceremony
Mariia Pomazan with the gold medal at the original ceremony (GETTY IMAGES)

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Ukrainian discus thrower Mariia Pomazan had today still not returned her erroneously-awarded gold medal, the International Paralympic Committee confirmed.

The 23-year-old was asked to return the gold she was given in the F35/36 class on Friday, when organisers announced the wrong medals had been handed out due to a flaw in Omega's scoring system.

Craig Spence from the IPC said today: "We have yet to receive the Ukrainian medal and the dialogue is ongoing."

Points rather than distance determine the final standings in the combined-class event. The distances are converted into points to account for the different impairments of the athletes taking part.

Pomazan, who went on to win gold legitimately in the shot put, stayed away from Monday's second medal ceremony, where she was due to collect silver, in apparent protest.

Gold was awarded to China's Wu Qing while Australia's Katherine Proudfoot, initially given fifth place, was upgraded to bronze.

IPC president Sir Philip Craven yesterday insisted the mix-up was not the fault of his organisation.

"It's not been easy, but it's definitely not a shambles," Craven said.

"It's one error that created this situation and we as an organisation, we're conscious of everyone involved, and we have tried to come up with the best solution.

"The wrong data was inputted by Omega and they've held their hands up and that has been amended."

PA

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