Mumbai: On the morning of August 30, Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt gave the entire nation a reason to rejoice by breaking the news on Twitter about his 2012 London Olympics Bronze medal being upgraded to Silver after the Silver-medalist tested positive for a dope test. But another news that won not just Indian hearts but tugged at every sportsman’s heartstring was Dutt wanting the medal to be kept with the original medal winner’s family to keep the honour intact.
The four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist Besik Kudukhov, who had died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, failed a World Anti-Doping Agency dope test conducted on his sample from 2012 before the Rio Games. As a result, Yogeshwar, who had bagged a bronze medal in men’s 60kg freestyle category in London Games, was next in line to upgrade to Silver and join Sushil Kumar as the other silver medallist wrestler from the 2012 London Games.
The news of Dutt refusing to accept the upgradation comes after he dedicated the Silver to the country. He, however, thinks it is sad to strip someone off his honour after his death.
But for a great sportsman that he is, Dutt is not keen to collect the upgraded silver medal, purely on humanitarian grounds given that the original second place finisher’s positive dope test came after his death.
Dutt, who is quite active on Twitter, posted, “Besik Kudukhov shandaar pehelwaan the. Unke mirtyu ke baad dope test mein fail ho jana bahut dukht hai Main khiladi ke roop mein main unka samaan karta hoon. (Besik Kudukhov was a magnificent wrestler. His dope test returning positive after his death is very sad. As a wrestler, I respect him).”
“Agar ho sake toh yeh medal unhi ke paas rehne diya jaaye. Unke pariwar ke liye bhi samaan purna hoga. Mere liye manaviya samvedana sarvopari hai (If possible he must be allowed to keep the medal. It will keep his family’s honour intact. For me humanity is above everything else),” he said.
Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra was quick to react to Dutt’s commendable decision by applauding on Twitter, “Yogeshwar Dutt’s sportsmanship bigger than a gold medal for me !#respect @yogidutt.”