Irish athletes Rob Heffernan and Olive Loughnane awarded medals

It may have come four years late but Cork’s world champion race walker Rob Heffernan is now finally an Olympic medallist.

In a largely expected announcement, the confirmed yesterday he had been retrospectively awarded the bronze medal from the 50km walk at the London 2012 Games.

The court ruling also means 20km Cork race walker Olive Loughnane will be upgraded from silver to gold for the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.