OLIVE LOUGHNANE THIS evening received her gold medal for winning the 2009 World Championship 20km race walk at a ceremony in Amsterdam.
The Cork athlete originally finished second behind Olga Kaniskina but was subsequently upgraded to gold after the Russian was stripped of her medal.
The 40-year-old, who retired from athletics in 2013, received her medal from IAAF President Sebastian Coe at a special presentation at the European Championships.
“There’s value in sentiment and it was great to share the moment with all the Irish fans here,” an emotional Loughnane said after the raising of the Irish flag and a rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann.
Loughnane becomes Ireland’s fourth athletics world champion after Eamonn Coghlan, Sonia O’Sullivan and Rob Heffernan.
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