China's Qieyang Shijie awarded London Olympic race walk gold

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Qieyang Shijie is expected to be promoted to first place in the women's 20km race walk at the London 2012 Olympic Games after original champion Elena Lashmanova of Russia was disqualified due to a doping violation.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an organization independent from World Athletics, wrote on Twitter that Lashmanova has been banned for two years starting from March 9, 2021 for the use of prohibited substances, a violation of World Athletics anti-doping rules.

The AIU also said that Lashmanova has accepted the sanction proposed by the AIU, including disqualification of her results between February 18, 2012 and January 3, 2014.

In addition to her London 2012 gold medal, the decision means that Lashmanova could also lose her 2013 World Championships title.

Prior to Lashmanova, Russia's Olga Kaniskina had been stripped of her silver medal. Qieyang Shijie, who originally finished third in the race, could therefore be awarded the gold medal, which would make her China's first Tibetan Olympic champion.

"A decade has passed. I feel both happy and sad about embracing my Olympic gold medal in such a way," Qieyang Shijie wrote on China's Twitter-like social media Weibo.

"What makes me happy is that I can become a champion and get an Olympic medal. What makes me sad is that I didn't have the feeling of becoming a champion and winning an Olympic title at the time.

"Let bygones be bygones, and I still strive to do my best," she wrote.