ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Sixteen years after coming second to Evgeny Ustyugov in the biathlon 15km mass start at the Vancouver Games, Frenchman Martin Fourcade was finally awarded the gold medal following the disqualification of the Russian for anti-doping violations.
Stripped of his competitive results, Ustyugov's final appeal was rejected by a Swiss court in 2025, resulting in the Frenchman's medal being upgraded from silver to gold, and on Sunday it was finally hung around his neck following the men's Olympic pursuit race at the Milano Cortina Games.
"Sixteen years, it has been a long journey - I never thought a biathlon race could last that long," Fourcade joked to Reuters, his 2010 gold nestling in his pocket.
"This medal today was not about the emotion from Vancouver. It was about the message we send about the fight for clean sport, the message we send about what the Olympics are - not only a sports competition, but a place where you need to follow some rules, to live together and to be able to share that common space."
The International Biathlon Union announced on Saturday that medals stripped from Ustyugov and his Russian teammates would be re-distributed at the Antholz-Antersselva Biathlon Arena, one of the sport's most famous venues.
"The reallocation follows the disqualification of all of Evgeny Ustyugov's (RUS) competitive results from 2010-2014 due to anti-doping rule violations based on abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport and evidence from the Moscow Laboratory Information Management System," the IBU said in a statement.
For Fourcade, who went on to win two gold medals at the Sochi Games in 2014 and three more in Pyeongchang four years later, the wait was worth it.
CHILDREN PRESENT
"It means a lot to me to get that medal and to show the world, to show the kids watching TV, to show my kids present here in the stadium, that justice is sometimes too long, but we need to follow the rules," he explained.
"We need to respect the other, and it's not only about sport and competition, it's about our common village, it's about our values. It's about what makes us humans.
"And I'm really happy that this medal is also this symbol, and much more than sport."
The ceremony also had the German relay team from the 2014 Olympics receive their gold medals following Russia's disqualification as Fourcade's Olympic tally finally ended up at six gold medals.
"I'm feeling lucky to be gold medallist today, and you know, my story is quite unique. I was not a silver medallist, and I'm not a gold medallist (in 2010) - I have been both, and that's my story, and I love it," the 37-year-old said.
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
