Forget about the silver, Yogeshwar Dutt could soon become India's second individual Olympic gold medallist. After it was confirmed that the wrestler will see his bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics upgraded to silver, a further dope test has now opened the door for the Indian to join rarefied Indian Olympic air.
Several reports on Friday suggest that Toghrul Asgarov, the gold medallist from London in Yogeshwar's category, has also tested positive, which means the Indian could now be upgraded to gold.
However, there is a long road ahead before that becomes a reality. First of all, there is no confirmation yet of the alleged positive dope test, with the Wrestling Federation of India and the world governing body United World Wrestling also not fully aware of the situation.
And even if Asgarov is confirmed to have tested positive, the decision to just hand Yogeshwar a gold medal – if that ends up being a reality, Yogeshwar will join Abhinav Bindra as only India's second individual gold medallist -- is not so cut and dry. The Indian was upgraded to silver, after the late Besik Kudukhov of Russia tested positive when samples from the 2012 London Olympics were retested.
Reports claim the same is the case for the gold medal winner of four years ago as well, but then there will be a decision to make for the officials. Yogeshwar was upgraded to the silver medal because Kudukhov had beaten him in the earlier round.
However, Asgarov beat the other bronze medallist from the category in London – Coleman Scott of the USA – en route to winning his gold medal. That means, according to the usual rules Scott should be the priority.
However, since getting upgraded directly from a bronze medal to a gold medal is difficult, since there is a clean athlete already there with the silver, things get a little more complicated.
This is the first time such a situation would have happened – again, assuming Asgarov has indeed tested positive – so the IOC and the UWW will have a decision to make. There is also the small matter of ensuring Yogeshwar and Scott also prove to be clean when their samples are also retested.
Maybe they will look back at the videos and see who scored more points, or maybe they will decide to name two gold medallists for the London Olympics. Anything could happen, but there is that thing called time before any of it does.
"If I go on to win gold it will be a great thing for the nation," Yogeshwar, who gallantly said he would much rather Asgarov's family kept the London silver, told Hindustan Times. "But quite a few things have to fall in place first for that to happen."
