London 2012 Olympic medalist will finally get his medal

After being declared the bronze medalist in 2019 after others were stripped of their medals due to doping violations, Tervel Dlagnev will be presented his reward this weekend

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After a nearly three-year wait, Tervel Dlagnev will finally get to show off his Olympic bronze medal.

It’s been quite an ordeal for the Bulgarian-born American wrestler since competing in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

Dlagnev, wrestling in the 120kg freestyle class, originally finished fifth in London after he was pinned by Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan in the semifinals, and then lost his bronze medal match to Komeil Ghasemi of Iran due to a separated cartilage in his rib cage.

FILE PHOTO: Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov (in red) celebrates victory over Georgia's Davit Modzmanashvili on the final of the Men's 120Kg Freestyle wrestling at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 11, 2012. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov (in red) celebrates victory over Georgia's Davit Modzmanashvili on the final of the Men's 120Kg Freestyle wrestling at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 11, 2012. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor/File Photo

In 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced they were stripping Taymazov of his gold medal due after failing a drug test and Davit Modzmanashvili, who also wrestles for Uzbekistan but in 2012 competed for Georgia, tested positive for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone after stored samples were retested. Modzmanashvili was stripped of his Olympic silver medal and banned for six years. Dlagnev was elevated to third place and a bronze medal along with Daulet Shabanbay of Kazakhstan. Ghasemi and Bilyal Makhov of Russia were awarded gold.

On March 6 he will finally receive his Olympic bronze medal in an Olympic Medal Reallocation Ceremony in Lincoln, Nebraska. The ceremony will be held at Pinnacle Bank Arena, just before the final session of the 2022 Big Ten Conference Wrestling Championships.

Dlagnev lives in Lincoln and is an assistant coach for the University of Nebraska wrestling team.

“We are very excited Tervel Dlagnev will be listed in the history books an Olympic medalist, a recognition long overdue,” said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director.

“It helps restore our faith in the system of keeping wrestling clean. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of the IOC, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and United World Wrestling to bring justice in situations where doping rules are violated.”

The ceremony is approved by the IOC. Dlagnev’s bronze medal and pin will be presented to him by a member of the IOC and USOPC. Dlagnev also competed in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Games where he finished fifth, and has two bronze medals from the World Championships in 2009 and 2014.