Olympic bronze for Dylan Armstrong?

Kamloops' Dylan Armstrong missed out on an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing in 2008 by one centimetre during this throw in the men's shot-put finals. A doping controversy involving the Belarus thrower who did win bronze means Armstrong may yet capture the medal — five years later. Ryan Remiorz

RYAN REMIORZ PHOTO/CANADIAN PRESS

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Kamloops shot putter Dylan Armstrong might be on the cusp of an Olympic bronze medal — from 2008.

Armstrong missed out on bronze at the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China, by a mere centimetre, having been edged out by Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus.

However, the Associated Press reported on Friday, March 8, that Mikhnevich was one of six athletes using banned substances in the 2005 World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The doping came to light during re-tests of the athletes’ samples from the 2005 championships in Helsinki.

What brings about the possibility of Armstrong being elevated to the bronze-medal position from fourth in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games is the fact Mikhnevich, in 2001, served a two-year suspension for a doping offence, therefore, a positive test from 2005 should lead to a retroactive lifetime ban that would include the 2008 Olympics.

The International Association of Athletics Federations, the global governing body for track and field, has begun disciplinary procedures against the six athletes.

Armstrong finished fifth in the men’s shot put at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London, while Mikhnevich did not compete.