McCallie School alumnus Michael Bingham ’04 finally got what he has deserved for more than eight years: an Olympic bronze medal for his part in Great Britain's 4x400 relay team at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.
Bingham and teammates Martyn Rooney, Andrew Steele and Robert Tobin were presented with their medals Sunday in London, finally getting the recognition they were denied in China.
Retests conducted last year of doping samples from the Beijing Olympics showed that Russian runner Denis Alexeev had used an anabolic steroid during competition in 2008.
The British quartet were presented their bronze medals at the London leg of the Diamond League track meet at London’s main stadium from the 2012 Olympics, according to reports by The Associated Press. "God Save the Queen" was played in London as thousands acclaimed the late medal recipients.
“For Michael to get this award, even nine years later, is an amazing achievement,” McCallie track coach Mike Wood said. “Michael’s talent and determination has been evident since he was a student at McCallie. He was destined to do amazing things on the track, and it’s heartening to see he and his teammates finally get the result they deserved for competing in the right way.”
During his time at McCallie, Bingham was a two-time TSSAA state decathlon champion, and two-time Division II champion in the 100 meter. He also won state titles in the 110 hurdles, 300 intermediate hurdles, 400 meter, 200 meter and triple jump. He ran track in college at Wake Forest prior to competing in the 2008 Olympics.
McCallie is an all-boys boarding and day school founded in 1905 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with 931 students in grades 6-12 from 22 states and 10 countries.