Australian athlete chases Olympic gold amid Russia doping scandal
MOSCOW -- Jared Tallent says he "definitely" considers himself the true Olympic race-walking champion. Now he just needs the gold medal to prove it.
The Australian finished second in the 50-kilometer walk at the 2012 London Olympics behind Sergei Kirdyapkin, who was one of five Russian walkers banned Tuesday for doping.
Kirdyapkin had most of his results wiped out going back as far as 2009, but the Russian ruling allowed him to keep his Olympic title. That means Tallent remains the silver medalist, for now.
Tallent said the decision handed down by the scandal-hit Russian Anti-Doping Agency was "politically motivated" to keep Russia's Olympic medals intact. He is pushing for the result to be overturned on appeal.
Tallent says "you can't cherry-pick when the athlete should get the results annulled."
