ATHLETICS: A date has been set for dual Olympian Jared Tallent to receive his Olympic gold medal for the London 2012 50km walk event.
Tallent will be presented the most prestigious award in sport on June 17 in Melbourne.
The reassignment of the Olympic medals has come after Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin was stripped of gold earlier this year due to doping offences.
IOC Vice President and AOC President John Coates and triple Olympic gold medallist and IOC member James Tomkins will be on hand for the special ceremony.
“I’ve spoken to Jared and he has decided that he would like to have the ceremony on the treasury steps in Melbourne,” said Coates who made the announcement at the AOC Annual General Meeting this morning.
“From Ballarat, it will give Jared the opportunity to share the moment with his family and friends, many of whom were present at the London 2012 Games.
“It will be full International Olympic Committee protocol and we will make it very special for him.
Coates does not anticipate any issues with the gold medal being returned by the Russian Olympic Committee to the IOC.
Having won silver in the 50km walk and bronze in the 20km walk at the Beijing 2008 Games, Tallent finished 54 seconds behind Sergey Kirdyapkin to become the only Australian male athletics athlete to win three Olympic medals.
Tallent will go in search of a more history in Rio having been selected for the 50km walk while he is also expected to be selected to compete in the 20km event.
He lines up with a host of Rio bound athletes in the World Race Walking Team Championships in Rome this weekend.
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au
