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The International Olympic Committee (IOC)
confirmed the reallocation of medals from the four and two-man
bob after the exhaustion of appeals.
Russia's Alexander Zubkov was stripped of his two golds by the
IOC in 2017 but had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for
Sport.
Holcomb, who piloted the U.S. four-man 'Night Train' bobsled to
gold at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, died unexpectedly in May
2017 at the age of 37.
The U.S. Olympic Committee said the upgraded medals will be
presented to the athletes and Holcomb’s family in a ceremony at
a date to be arranged.
"It’s unfortunate that our results were not official in February
of 2014 and that we’ve had to endure the long process to see
justice finally served," said team mates Chris Fogt, Steve
Langton, and Curt Tomasevicz.
"We are happy that we now can celebrate and be proud of the
silver medal accomplishments."
The reallocation means Latvia won the four-man gold while
Britain are promoted to bronze -- taking their Sochi tally to
five medals and equaling Pyeongchang 2018 as the country's most
successful Winter Games.
"Recognition from the IOC of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic
four-man bobsleigh result is a big step forward to us receiving
our Olympic bronze medal," said Britain's John Jackson, whose
team mates were Stuart Benson, Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon, in
a Team GB statement on Thursday.
"Disappointingly, it is a medal we should have received on an
Olympic podium in 2014. Cheats have cost us that moment, along
with other nations too."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Alexander Smith)
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