Canadians get Pan Am medal upgrades
Canadian swimmer Zack Chetrat will have his Pan Am medal upgraded to silver while teammate Alec Page and distance runner Rachel Hannah will receive bronze medals after a pair of Peruvian athletes were disqualified due to doping infractions.
The Canadian Olympic Committee was informed of the redistribution of medals by the Pan American Sports Organization after the conclusion of the anti-doping process, the COC said Thursday in a release.
Chetrat moves into second place in the men’s 200-metre butterfly, while Page takes third in the same event. Hannah gets the third-place result in the women’s marathon.
“I am thrilled to see that Zack, Alec and Rachel are finally getting the silver and bronze medals they won and deserve,” said Canadian chef de mission Curt Harnett. “We congratulate them all for their outstanding accomplishments and the honour they bring to their sport and our country.”
Gladys Tejeda originally won marathon gold in two hours 33.03 seconds. She was stripped of the result due to a failed doping test administered during the Games, Athletics Canada said in a release. Specifics on the infraction weren’t immediately available.
Adrianna da Silva of Brazil (2:35.40) will be upgraded to gold and American Lindsay Flanagan (2:36.30) will move up to silver. Hannah (2:41.06) will receive her medal Saturday in Kingston, Ont., during a ceremony at the Canadian cross-country championships.
Swimmer Mauricio Fiol was the other disqualified athlete, a Swimming Canada spokesman said. He tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol and was suspended from the Peruvian team on July 17.
Fiol finished just 0.14 seconds behind gold medallist Leonardo de Deus of Brazil, who finished first in one minute 55.01 seconds. Chetrat moves into second with a time of 1:56.90 and Page takes third in 1:58.01.
Page is expected to receive his medal Friday during a ceremony in Victoria, while plans for Chetrat’s ceremony have not yet been finalized.
The changes bring Canada’s final medal tally at the Pan Am Games to an all-time Canadian record of 219 medals: 78 gold, 70 silver and 71 bronze.
Hannah’s bronze pushes the Canadian track and field team’s total to 27 medals, an all-time best result for the team. The previous team best was 24 medals at the 1967 edition of the Pan Ams.