The Swedish Lisa Norden loses the appeal before the TAS and will not receive the gold

Swedish triathlete Lisa Norden will not receive the gold medal after the tight finish of last week's event at the London Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) explained in a statement on Saturday.

CAS denied an appeal by Sweden requesting that silver medalist Norden be given a gold equal to Swiss Nicola Spirig, declared the winner of last Saturday's photo-finish event.

Spirig and Norden crossed the finish line in 1 hour and 59:48 minutes, one of the closest finishes in triathlon history. The Swedish Olympic Committee asked that both receive gold, but the CAS said no because the decision had not violated any rules.

The judges examined photographic evidence after the race and decided that Spirig's margin of victory was less than 15 centimeters. An image later appeared in which it appeared that Norden's head had crossed the finish line earlier.

But the rules state that a test is won by the athlete whose torso crosses the line first. The evidence in this regard showed that the Swiss athlete was the winner. This was the first time that an Olympic triathlon was defined by 'photo-finish'.

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