fter the defeat, but Mancini will never forget this night. He

PARIS -- After a career of athletic success, Kim Gevaert regretted that her kids werent born when she was in her prime and didnt see the sprinter make history at the Beijing Olympics. A consolation was that the children were on hand eight years later, when their mothers history was finally put right.Gevaert and her teammates from Belgiums sprint relay squad in 2008 are among the first beneficiaries of what is quickly becoming the biggest rewriting of Olympic history. The story, for kids at least, is tricky to grasp, as Gevaert discovered when she tried explaining in September to her seven-, five- and three-year olds why a stern-looking man in a dark suit had just hung an Olympic gold medal around her neck, even though she retired years ago, in a packed Brussels stadium with an ecstatic crowd.But really, its simple: Dozens of medals that drug cheats won in Beijing, and again four years later in London, are finding their way to rightful owners, Gevaert included, thanks to an International Olympic Committee crackdown on dopers who escaped detection in 2008 and 2012 but are now being caught by advances in the science of drug testing.Taken out of storage and reanalyzed, urine samples from those games are now proving positive for anabolic steroids and other banned performance-enhancers that labs couldnt spot at the time. So far, the nearly 1,400 retests have caught 98 athletes. Disqualifications started as a drip, with the IOC first announcing in June 2015 that open-water swimmer Olga Beresnyeva of Ukraine was being stripped of her seventh place in London because retests found she used the banned blood-booster EPO.They have since swelled to a torrent. In the last four months, after reanalyzing their samples, the IOC has ordered 17 medal winners from Beijing -- which has now lost more medalists to doping than any other games -- and nine from London to hand back their golds, silvers and bronzes. More are expected to follow as the retesting continues and expands to samples from the 2014 Sochi Games, the IOCs medical director, Richard Budgett, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.Its both a wonderful story but a very sad story at the same time, Budgett said. Because those athletes who should have got medals have had to wait an incredibly long time.At least, in the end, justice has been done, he added. It will be good for the deterrence of future cheaters.Those caught include Yulia Chermoshanskaya, the anchor runner for Russia in womens sprint relay in Beijing. She and her teammates were stripped of gold after two anabolic steroids, stanozolol and turinabol, were found in Chermoshanskayas urine reanalyzed this year. Tests can now detect if athletes used the drugs weeks before competing. Previously, the detection window was mere days.That bumped the silver medalists -- Gevaert, Olivia Borlee, Hanna Marien and Elodie Ouedraogo -- to first place. The first Belgian women ever to medal on an Olympic track will never know how they would have felt had they, not the Russians, stood on top of the podium in Beijing and heard their anthem play. But they got, albeit belatedly, the next best thing: a rousing ceremony and standing ovation at a track meet in Brussels King Baudouin Stadium on Sept. 9. Gevaerts kids were in the 40,000-strong crowd and saw her and her teammates, all wearing golden tops, be driven around in an open-top vintage car and former IOC President Jacques Rogge hang the medals around their necks.They were able to be part of a very special moment in my career, Gevaert, who retired shortly after Beijing, said.The stadium was full, the crowd was very enthusiastic, she added. They made it a fabulous occasion. Even after eight years, it was a magical moment.The reallocation of medals isnt automatic. To make sure that theyre not handing medals from one doper to another, the IOC is also retesting the samples of athletes who are next in line. Dina Sazanovets, for example, placed fourth in her 69-kilogram weightlifting category in London but wont get the bronze stripped from her Belarusian teammate Marina Shkermankova, because retests found steroids in both of their samples. The Belgian sprinters samples, on the other hand, were negative when retested, Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant, head of the Belgium Olympic Committee, said in a phone interview.Even if retests find nothing, the IOC is not obliged to reward those further down, if it feels they are too compromised to deserve a medal. The womens 1,500 meters in London looks particularly problematic. As fourth-place finisher, Tatyana Tomashova would theoretically be in line for bronze, after race winner Asli Cakir Alptekin forfeited gold for doping. But the Russian served a doping ban of two years and nine months before competing in London. For the moment, the IOC has not reallocated the medals and still lists Tomashova as fourth.American Shannon Rowbury, who placed sixth, wonders whether she might end up among the medals and struggles to reply when people ask where she finished.Its a really helpless feeling to just be sitting and waiting and, you know, hoping that justice will be served, Rowbury said. With London in particular, there are just so many question marks and so many `What ifs?Once the IOC determines who gets what, it has guidelines but no firm rules governing exactly how athletes should be awarded their reassigned medals. It leaves the choice of ceremony up to national Olympic committees, recommending that they invite dignitaries and the media and play the Olympic anthem.When Australian race walker Jared Tallent received his London gold, stripped from a Russian drug cheat, nearly four years late this June, he was given a choice of venues. He opted for Melbourne, because he grew up nearby, and the citys Old Treasury Building, because its a really nice place and I could have all my family and friends there. It was all televised on TV, a pretty special occasion.He first returned the silver.It was a weird feeling, giving that medal back. That was about a month before my medal ceremony, so I didnt have an Olympic medal for a month until I got a gold replacement, he said in a phone interview.Irish walker Robert Heffernan, who got bumped up from fourth place in that race, received his bronze on Thursday in his hometown of Cork, regaled with a piper, plenty of pomp and a jubilant crowd that filled City Hall with cheers as the medal was finally hung around his neck. Heffernan delayed the ceremony until after competing at the Rio Games this August because he wanted to fully enjoy the occasion with family and friends after his four-year wait.Its been a very long, drawn-out affair, his manager, Derry McVeigh, said in a phone interview. If youre just focusing on this medal all the time, it can just take over your life.Beckers-Vieujant, the Belgium Olympic chief, traveled himself to Switzerland to pick up the golds for Gevaert and her teammates and drove them back, in a very nice lacquered wooden box, by car to Brussels. Not the original medals that the Russians got, these were drawn instead from an IOC stock of replacements.The IOC luckily still had a few gold medals left from Beijing, he said.He rushed them to an engraver, to mark that they were won for sprint relay, before the handover in the cheering stadium.It was a marvelous moment, he said. Unforgettable.The sense of justice restored gave it additional warmth.---AP Sports Writers Stephen Wilson in London and James Ellingworth in Moscow contributed to this report.Fake Shoes Black Friday .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. Cheap Shoes Black Friday . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . 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Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3.BALTIMORE -- With 40-year-old David Ortiz leading the way, the Boston Red Sox are putting substantial distance between themselves and their pursuers in the AL East.Ortiz broke open a tight game with a three-run homer in the seventh inning, and Boston beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 Tuesday night for its sixth straight victory.Jackie Bradley Jr. also homered for the Red Sox, who stretched their lead over third-place Baltimore to five games with 11 remaining. Toronto is in second place, four games back after a 10-2 victory at Seattle.After sweeping four games from the Yankees, Boston has won the first two of this pivotal four-game series.This was really huge, Bradley said. To get two wins right away is very vital for us. I think it will help us keep building on our momentum and finish strong.Trey Mancini homered in his major league debut for the Orioles, who are 1 1/2 games ahead of Detroit for the second AL wild card.The Red Sox are 11-3 in their last 14 games and a major league-best 13-5 in September.I think there is growing confidence in our clubhouse daily, manager John Farrell said. Weve responded to a number of challenges, whether its on the road or coming from behind to win ballgames in the division. Those are key. When you succeed in those, thats a snowball effect that takes place.To balance that out, no one is taking any of that for granted.The Red Sox led 2-1 in the seventh when Marco Hernandez and Mookie Betts singled off Kevin Gausman (8-11). One out later, Ortiz hit a 1-2 pitch far over the center-field wall.I still cant figure out how he can swing so hard on balls up and in and then cover a pitch down and away, but thats why hes the hitter he is, Orioles catcher Matt Wieters said.Ortiz guessed correctly that Gausman would throw a fastball.I had to shoot for something. Experience played out in that at-bat, the slugger said. I told myself, `Ive got to either shoot for a fastball or a splitter. But I know hes throwing his best fastball right now. So Im going to go for a fastball. And then he threw the fastball.Playing in his final season, Ortiz has 36 home runs and 121 RBI.dddddddddddd Big Papi has hit eight home runs against the Orioles this season -- including two in this series -- and 54 for his career.Betts also extended his run of success against Baltimore, going 3 for 5 and scoring twice. He is 16 for 31 at Camden Yards and has scored 16 runs in eight games.Eduardo Rodriguez (3-7) allowed two runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings for Boston, his first win in 11 starts since July 16.Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 28th save.After giving up four hits in eight scoreless innings last week at Boston, Gausman yielded five runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings.Boston went up 1-0 in the third when Betts singled and scored on a grounder by Hanley Ramirez. Bradley hit his 26th homer in the fourth.Rodriguez retired his first 11 batters and held Baltimore without a hit until Mancini connected with two outs in the fifth. The rookie sprinted around the bases, taking about half the time Ortiz did during his home run trot in the seventh.UNFORGETTTABLE MOMENTThe Orioles were quick to turn the page after the defeat, but Mancini will never forget this night. He became the third Orioles player to homer in his first game, following Larry Haney in 1966 and Jonathan Schoop in 2013.It was a really special moment, something that Ive definitely been waiting for my whole life, the rookie said.TRAINERS ROOMRed Sox: Farrell gave 2B Dustin Pedroia (knee) the night off but expected him back in the lineup Wednesday.Orioles: LHP Wade Miley is expected to leave the team after Sundays game against Arizona to join his wife, who is expecting. Manager Buck Showalter said the pitcher might miss the Toronto series that begins Tuesday.UP NEXTRed Sox: Clay Buchholz (7-10, 5.20 ERA) looks to extend a three-game winning streak Wednesday night. He is 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA against Baltimore this season.Orioles: Unbeaten in four starts since Aug. 25, Ubaldo Jimenez (7-11, 5.94) is 2-5 with a 7.39 ERA lifetime against the Red Sox. ' ' '