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Another Beijing Olympic medal stripped as total nears 50

By Nick ZaccardiMar 1, 2017, 10:35 AM EDT
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The tally of 2008 Olympic medals stripped moved closer to 50 after Ukraine modern pentathlete Victoria Tereshchuk lost her bronze for doping via retesting of her samples from the Beijing Games.

More than 80 athletes from the Beijing Olympics have been disqualified for doping, according to Olympic historians. More than 40 medals have been stripped.

Tereschchuk’s samples came back positive for the anabolic steroid turinabol, a common substance found in retesting that has led to stripped medals.

The fourth-place finisher in the 2008 Olympic modern pentathlon, Anastasiya Samusevich of Belarus, is in line to be upgraded to bronze.

The list of stripped 2008 Olympic medals is wide-ranging, in sports including cycling, track and field, weightlifting and wrestling. The athletes have primarily come from Russia and Eastern Europe.

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Russia’s Lesun takes gold in men’s modern pentathlon, USA’s Schrimsher 11th

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By Raphielle JohnsonAug 20, 2016, 6:15 PM EDT
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Russia’s Alexandr Lesun, who already had two world championships to his credit in the modern pentathlon, took gold in the Olympic competition Saturday.

Lesun compiled a total of 1479 points, just seven more than silver medalist Pavlo Tymoshchenko of Ukraine. The gold medal represents a bounce-back for Lesun, who four years ago finished 25th in the modern pentathlon. Entering the running/shooting portion of the competition with a slight lead over Tymoshchenko, Lesun posted a time seven seconds better than that of the Ukrainian to take gold.

With his silver medal Tymoshchenko is the first Ukrainian male to win an Olympic medal in the modern pentathlon. Taking bronze was Mexico’s Ismael Hernandez Uscanga, who won his nation’s first Olympic medal in either men’s or women’s modern pentathlon.

American Nathan Schrimsher finished 11th with a total of 1450 points.

Australia’s Esposito takes gold in women’s modern pentathlon

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By Raphielle JohnsonAug 19, 2016, 6:20 PM EDT
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Four years after finishing seventh and failing to medal in the women’s modern pentathlon, Australia’s Chloe Esposito took gold in the event Friday.

Esposito earned a total of 1372 points, edging out Elodie Clouvel of France and Oktawia Nowacka of Poland. Clouvel, who finished 31st in London, took silver with 1356 points and Nowacka bronze with 1349 points. Just missing out on a medal was China’s Chen Qian, who finished just six points behind Nowacka in fourth.

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While the three medalists were close in standings in regards to points earned in swimming, fencing (ranking and bonus rounds) and riding portions of the competition, it was the shooting and running portion that made the difference. Esposito scored a total of 570 points in those events, with Clouvel tallying 521 and Nowacka 502.

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Lithuania’s Laura Asadauskaite established a new Olympic record in the running/shooting portion with a combined time of 12:01.01, but the 2012 Olympic gold medalist finished 31st overall. 2008 gold medalist Lena Schoeneborn finished 32nd, with both she and Asadauskaite failing to finish the horse riding portion of the competition.

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Both Americans in the competition finished well out of medal contention, with Margaux Isaksen finishing 20th (1280 points) and younger sister Isabelle finishing 25th (1255).