Irelands race walker Rob Heffernan is on the verge of receiving an Olympic bronze with Russian doping cheat Sergey Kirdyapkin set to be stripped of his London 2012 gold. Heffernan finished fourth in the 50km race walk at the London Games, as well as ninth in the 20km distance. But a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday has cleared the way for 50km winner Kirdyapkin to have his gold taken away. It is expected to be re-allocated to runner-up Jared Tallent of Australia, with Chinas Si Tianfeng bumped up to silver and Heffernan to bronze.The CAS decision is still subject to ratification by track and fields governing body, the IAAF, and by the International Olympic Committee. Sergey Kirdyapkin finishing first in the London 2012 Olympics Kirdyapkin failed a doping test in January 2015 but his ban issued by Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA only included periods from July 2009 to June 2012, and from October 2012 onwards - allowing him to keep his Olympic title.The CAS has now upheld appeals by the IAAF on Kirdyapkin and five other Russian athletes on the grounds that RUSADA had been selective in annulling their previous results after they were banned for irregularities in their biological passports.Heffernan told Irish radio station Today FM: Im buzzing. I got a generic email off the Court of Arbitration for Sport (containing the judgment).I had to read it a few times just in case I made a mistake.That makes me an Olympic bronze medallist and its unreal. Australias Jared Tallent (gold vest) and Irelands Rob Heffernan (green) at the 2015 World Championships The 38-year-old, who also competed at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, won World Championship gold in 2013, and is in training for Rio, has previously been upgraded to a 2010 European bronze thanks to another Russian doping offence.He added: Its been dragging on and people in Cork have been coming up and congratulating me on being a new Olympic medallist.A lot of people were congratulating me on the gold and I never bothered correcting them.I was half living the lie. I was trying to believe it myself. Now that its made official, I didnt know how Id feel about it. Im delighted, Im over the moon, its unreal.Its something that as long as Ive been doing sport and as a kid Ive been dreaming of, winning an Olympic medal, and now to have one its hard to take in.Tallent took to Twitter to say: History has been rewritten. I am Olympic champion. Olga Kaniskina looks set to lose her London 2012 silver medal As well as Kirdyapkin, Olga Kaniskina now stands to lose her silver medal in the London 2012 20km walk, with it going instead to Chinas Qiejang Shenjie.From the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Sergey Bakulin looks set to lose his 50km walk gold, and Yuliya Zaripova her steeplechase gold.The CAS also imposed disqualification on walkers Valery Borchin and Vladimir Kanaikin. Kanaikin had been handed a life ban by RUSADA but CAS replaced that with an eight-year suspension.The six cases were based on the biological passport system, which tracks unusual blood values for signs of doping.RUSADA had argued that its suspensions applied only to times when the athletes blood values were extreme, but the IAAF said the timing of the bans was selective. Cheap Colorado Rockies Jerseys . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Cheap Rockies Jerseys . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. http://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.com/ . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Cheap Todd Helton Jersey . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. Cheap Rockies Jerseys China . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. WASHINGTON -- For all the progress starter Francisco Liriano showed Friday night, a seventh-inning defensive meltdown cost the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Washington Nationals.The Pirates made two errors during that decisive inning that contributed to their 5-1 loss in the first game out of the All-Star break. A mistake by first baseman David Freese on a sacrifice bunt attempt and the combination of a wild by pitch by reliever Neftali Feliz and throwing blunder by catcher Eric Fryer gave the Nationals the breaks they needed.It all comes back to game awareness, manager Clint Hurdle said. We needed to handle it better.Liriano (5-9) lasted into the seventh inning, allowing three runs and five hits. He didnt surrender a hit for the first three innings but wasnt as sharp throughout as Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg (13-0), who allowed one run and three hits in eight innings.Hurdle said Liriano pitched a very competitive ballgame.I feel like the last three starts, Ive been getting better every start little by little, Liriano said. I just got to keep pitching, keep finding a way to get hitters to swing and miss. Try not to walk that many guys and get ahead in the count like I have these last couple of games.A walk and a single by Clint Robinson in the seventh ended Lirianos night and sparked Washingtons rally. Danny Espinosa scored on Strasburgs bunt and Freese failed to tag first to get an out.I threw to first, Feliz said through an interpreter. Unfortunately, the man wasnt on first and Espinosa got there. Its just something that happens.Felizs wild pitch allowed Robinson to go from second to third, and Fryers throwing error gave the Nationals their third run.I didnt even know where the ball went, said Robinson, who went 2 for 4 as a late starter at first base in place of Daniel Murphy. I had no iddea where it was.dddddddddddd(Third base coach Bob Henley) just said `Go ahead, so I went.Feliz then served up a two-run homer to Michael Taylor, the center fielders seventh of the season, as Washington broke the game open. Nationals manager Dusty Baker said the Pirates helped his team out with the errors, and Taylor made his aggressive at-bat count.It was just a good inning altogether, Taylor said. Danny with the big base-running. We capitalized on a couple mistakes they made.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: RHP Ryan Vogelsong, who has been out since May 23 when he was hit by a pitch and suffered three facial fractures, threw six scoreless innings in a rehab start for Double-A Altoona. ... C Francisco Cervelli, who has been on the DL since June 11 with a broken bone in his wrist, doubled and singled in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Indianapolis.Nationals: Murphy said he felt tightness in his hamstring after sliding into second base during the All-Star Game on Tuesday. The team listed him as day-to-day but he wasnt sure if hed be able to play Saturday night. ... Baker said RHP Joe Ross continues to toss but remains on the DL with no definitive timeline.FATHERS DAYSThis is the Pirates fourth annual dads trip, and almost 20 fathers of people throughout the organization are taking part.Its an absolute blast for everybody, Hurdle said. Its kind of like revisiting Little League but backwards because then weve got to follow our fathers around and make sure they havent left stuff behind.UP NEXTPirates RHP Gerrit Cole (5-4, 2.77 ERA) returns from the DL and starts Saturday against Nationals RHP Tanner Roark (8-5, 3.01). Cole has been out since June 11 with a strained right triceps muscle. ' ' '