Toghrul Asgarov's Olympic Gold Medal Will Not Be Pulled

Toghrul Asgarov will not lose his Olympic gold medal from London 2012, according to this morning's report from United World Wrestling.[tweet url="https://tw

Sep 6, 2016 by Wrestling Nomad

Toghrul Asgarov's Olympic Gold Medal Will Not Be Pulled

Toghrul Asgarov will not lose his Olympic gold medal from London 2012, according to this morning's report from United World Wrestling.

Contrary to news reports, 2012 Olympic gold medalist Togrul ASGAROV (AZE) has never been in violation of UWW's anti-doping policy.
— World Wrestling (@wrestling) September 6, 2016

Just last week, FloWrestling confirmed that Artur Taymazov and Besik Kudukhov will each be stripped of an Olympic medal. Taymazov's 2008 gold medal and Kudukhov's 2012 silver medal will retroactively be taken from them due to failed PED tests. Under current IOC rules, samples for medalists are held for 10 years and periodically re-tested.

In our initial report about Kudukhov and Taymazov, it was mentioned that wrestlers from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Ukraine will have their medals stripped, though we did not mention any names in the article. After this, a story emerged from India that Asgarov was the Azeri athlete who failed a test and will lose his 60kg gold medal.

More than a silver lining: @DuttYogis 2012 Games medal may turn to gold https://t.co/NP8kAQ8iL3 pic.twitter.com/XY5fqloZwr
— Vinayak Padmadeo (@Padmadeo) September 2, 2016

The article from the Hindustan Times was picked up throughout India, as well as by several U.S. wrestling news outlets. In the piece, it mentioned a source close to WADA:

A source said the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is yet to officially communicate the news of gold medallist Toghrul Asgarov's positive dope test to United World Wrestling.

At this time, FloWrestling has not confirmed the names of any additional medalists from Beijing and/or London who will have their medals pulled, or how many medals will be changing hands.