PARIS — Beverly McDonald had long since given up hope of ever receiving her Olympic bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, had long since come to terms with the reality that Marion Jones, who later confessed to doping, had knocked her off the podium.
As her 30s came and went, then her 40s, then her 50th birthday, the Jamaican sprinter decided she had no choice but to move on. She started work as an assistant manager for Gap in Fort Worth, Texas. She gave birth to a son, who is now 16. At one point, about a decade ago, McDonald said she was told her long-awaited medal would be sent to Jamaica − then later informed that officials there had ‘misplaced’ it. ‘I don’t know what happened,’ she said.
Yet on Friday afternoon, at the age of 54, McDonald finally got her long-awaited podium moment − and her sought-after 200-meter bronze medal. In a unique first, she was one of the 10 athletes who received reallocated Olympic medals from the International Olympic Committee, most of them upgraded or elevated onto the podium because the men and women ahead of them had been caught doping.
The 10 athletes competed in different sports and events, across three editions of the Games. But nobody else had waited as long as McDonald had for this day − almost 24 years, through parts of three decades.
‘(It’s) a bittersweet moment,’ she said. ‘I thought I wasn’t going to be nervous, (but) once I went out there and saw the crowd, it was really amazing.’
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
American high jumper Erik Kynard, who had his 2012 silver medal upgraded to gold, described the experience this way: ‘It’s like I told a joke 12 years ago and the world is just now starting to get it.’
Kynard said the ceremony only happened when and where it did − against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, during the 2024 Paris Games − because of retired American sprinter Lashinda Demus, who led a lobbying effort to add the location as an option at which athletes could receive reallocated medals.
The IOC awards those medals on a case-by-case basis. And it had previously tried to give athletes a list of dignified settings in which to receive them − at the organization’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland for example, or at a ceremony hosted by their national Olympic committee. Yet in practice, many of these medal ceremonies became more logistical than triumphant; Adam Nelson famously received his reallocated shot put gold medal outside a Burger King.
Demus, now 41, finished second in the 400-meter hurdles final at the 2012 London Olympics behind only Natalya Antyukh of Russia, who was later found to be doping. She helped push the IOC to add a venue at the Paris Olympics, with a roaring crowd, as a new option.
‘It was just pride. I think it was closure. Being celebrated,’ Demus said of Friday’s ceremony. ‘I think the crowd was great, and they made us feel as close as possible to the real situation as they could. I appreciate them for that.’
Demus said her mother, father, four sons, a niece and two cousins were all on hand in Paris to celebrate with her. She took a break from an interview with reporters to share a hug with her college coach.
For McDonald, one of the bright spots of the 24-year delay is that it allowed her son 16-year-old son Justin to experience it with her. At his high school in Texas, he’s a sprinter on the track team − just like McDonald and her husband, Raymond Stewart, whom she credited with advocating for her to receive her reallocated medal.
‘I think it’s a different moment,’ McDonald said. ‘You’re (not) going to be with the top three athletes – silver, gold medal. Here you’re just you, by yourself, getting a medal. So it felt a little different, but it’s still a great feeling.’
The medal that she wore around her neck wasn’t just an unmarked leftover, mind you. It was the exact design, size and style that was distributed at the 2000 Olympics.
In fact, it might even be the exact medal that previously belonged to someone else. The IOC said in a statement that it makes ‘every effort to retrieve the original medals from disqualified athletes’ before dipping into a reserve supply from each Games.
The athletes who accepted reallocated medals Friday said they weren’t sure where theirs came from, but several said they did return their old medals. Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin, for example, said he dropped his bronze medal off with the Canadian Olympic Committee. Demus said she shipped hers back.
‘I think I actually put it in a hefty ziplock bag or something and just put it in an overnight envelope and sent it off,’ Kynard said. ‘I didn’t even insure tracking. Maybe they got it, maybe they didn’t, I don’t know.’
For every athlete, the delay has come with a cost. Demus noted that she was favored to win gold in 2012 and believes she’s lost out on ‘millions’ in endorsement deals and sponsorship opportunities. Kynard said he doesn’t want to be a victim of circumstance, but he does want to see ceremonies like Friday’s become more commonplace moving forward.
McDonald, who also won relay medals with Jamaica in 2000 and 2004, thanked the IOC for making it an option. She said it also allowed her and her son to catch a few races at Stade de France while they’re in town. But she still laments the moment she lost.
“2000 was the best year that I ever competed,’ she said. ‘Really thought I was going to get a medal. But hey, I got one right now.’
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
➤ The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
