Lashinda Demus of the United States is officially the London 2012 women's 400m hurdles champion after the IOC confirmed a medal reallocation ©Getty Images

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognised two medal re-allocations from the London 2012 Olympics, meaning Lashinda Demus of the United States is officially the women’s 400 metres hurdles champion and China’s Shenjie Qieyang is winner of the women’s 20 kilometres race walk.

The results were changed by World Athletics following the disqualification for doping of three Russian athletes - Natalya Antyukh of Russia, original winner of the 400m hurdles, and Elena Lashmanova and Olga Kaniskina, who took gold and silver in the 20km walk.

Demus, now 40, finished 0.07 seconds behind Antyukh, who was implicated last year in the second doping case of her career.

Evidence recovered from a Moscow testing laboratory database led to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) deciding last October to strip Antyukh of all her results from July 2012 through to June 2013.

Demus will thus receive a gold medal from the IOC to add to the world title she won in Daegu in 2011.

Zuzana Hejnová of the Czech Republic is upgraded to London 2012 silver, and the bronze medal has been reallocated to Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica.

China's Shenjie Qieyang, pictured at the London 2012 Olympics, has now had the women's 20km race walk bronze she won there changed to gold after the IOC confirmed a medal reallocation following the disqualification for doping of Russia's original gold and silver medallists ©Getty Images
China's Shenjie Qieyang, pictured at the London 2012 Olympics, has now had the women's 20km race walk bronze she won there changed to gold after the IOC confirmed a medal reallocation following the disqualification for doping of Russia's original gold and silver medallists ©Getty Images

When the AIU ruling was made five months ago, Antyukh was already serving a four-year ban in a previous case that disqualified all her results from 2013 to 2015, as reported by abcnews.

Lu Xiuzhi finished third in the women’s 20km race in London in 1hr 25min 16sec, which is now recognised as an Olympic as well as an Asian record.

The disqualification of the other medallists meant that China managed a clean sweep, with Liu Hong, who went on to take gold at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, as well as setting the world record of 1:24:38 in 2015, moving up to silver, and Lu taking bronze.

"The reallocation of medals is not automatic and is decided by the IOC on a case-by-case basis," the International Olympic Committee said.

"If the IOC decides to reallocate the medals, this takes place only after all the remedies have been exhausted by the sanctioned athletes or teams, and once all procedures have been closed.

"Where such samples are available, at least one sample from any athlete bumped up should be re-analysed and confirmed negative. 

"If no sample is available to be re-analysed, the athlete is given the benefit of the doubt.

"Since 2018, athletes can choose from six options to receive their reallocated medals in a way that recognises their achievements.

"This is in accordance with the Olympic medal reallocation principles that were proposed by the IOC Athletes’ Commission and subsequently approved by the IOC Executive Board."