VERMILLION — University of South Dakota alum and current USD assistant track and field coach Derek Miles will be presented with an Olympic bronze medal by the International Olympic Committee in a ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, April 17.
The ceremony will be held in the DakotaDome Club inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion. South Dakota Senator John Thune, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun and Miles are all scheduled to speak.
The IOC stripped a handful of athletes from the 2008 Olympics after banned substances were found during retests of samples from the games. Among them was Ukrainian Denys Yurchenko who took home the bronze medal in the pole vault in 2008. Miles placed fourth in the event.
A native of Citrus Heights, Calif., Miles is a three-time Olympian who competed in 2004 in Athens, 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London. He also represented the United States on six world championship teams and is a three-time U.S. National Champion. Miles retired following the 2012 Olympics with a personal best of 19-2 ½. Miles was inducted to the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame in 2006 and the USTFCCCA Division II Hall of Fame in 2013.