Deja vu for Lee as she’s given fourth spot as drugs cheat is stripped

SCOTS legend Lee McConnell is set to become an Olympic fourth-placed finisher twice over after Games chiefs stripped yet another Russian of a medal due to a drugs bust.

The re-testing of samples from London 2012 has uncovered the use of banned steroid turinabol by Antonina Krivoshapka who helped the Russians to 4x400m relay sliver.

The IOC have ruled that the positive test will see the quartet erased from the record books, promoting Jamaica into second with Ukraine – who included Olha Zemlyak and Nataliya Pyhyda, both previously suspended for using anabolic steroids – now receiving what will be a controversial bronze.

And there will be a sense of deja vu for the now-retired McConnell who was previously denied a 4x400m bronze from the Athens 2004 Games when athletics chiefs refused to strip the USA of their gold and elevate GB&NI to bronze, even though American participant Crystal Cox was subsequently banned for doping.

“The punishments just aren’t tough enough,” the Scot said of that decision. “The deterrents have to be strong, otherwise people will still have the incentive to use drugs. And teams shouldn’t keep medals if one of them was cheating.”

Meanwhile, Max Whitlock claims the UK’s top gymnasts can make the most of their home comforts at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow and secure another boost to their recent medal tally.

The 24-year-old, who landed two golds and a team bronze at last summer’s Olympics in Rio, has already tagged the Hydro Arena as his lucky venue after becoming the first British male to win a world championship in 2015 on the pommel horse in that arena.

And what is likely to be one last chance in Whitlock’s career to achieve glory on domestic soil could be the catalyst for another gold run.

“The support really does help us,” he said. “It gives us the determination to try harder and do more in the competition. We get such a buzz off of that. I remember walking out into the Commonwealth Games and I had goose bumps all over my body.

“And it was the same at the world championships.

“It wasn’t just a great event for the spectators but for the athletes themselves. A lot of them came out of the World Championships saying it was the best competition they’d ever been part of.”