The Belgian relay team took silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but last month that silver became gold as the Russian team was ultimately disqualified for a doping violation. Eight years on the Belgian 4x100 team has finally received its gold medal, much to the delight of the home crowd in Brussels.
BOIC chairman Pierre-Olivier Beckers personally collected the medals at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this week. He brought them to the meeting in the King Baudouin Stadium, where he handed them over to the Belgian quartet along with Rogge and IAAF chairman Sebastian Coe.
Coe: "Congratulations to Belgium. The medal reallocation process has been expedited to ensure that the rightful Beijing 2008 Olympic relay gold medallists were properly honoured at Belgium's and IAAF Diamond League's annual athletics finale. It shows what can be achieved and we will endeavour to ensure these processes are generally accelerated in the future."
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