NEW YORK CITY (CMC):

American Shawn Crawford has confirmed he has handed over his Olympic 200-metre silver medal to the Caribbean sprinter Churandy Martina, AP has reported.

Martina, of the Netherlands Antilles, had been disqualified from second place for running on the line on the curve as Jamaican Usain Bolt sped to gold in the half-lap sprint in Beijing.

Crawford, the 2004 Olympic champion over the distance, was originally fourth but was promoted to second after Martina and the third-place American Wallace Spearmon were disqualified for the same offence.

Deserved medal

Crawford said in the AP story that Martina deserved the medal.

"I'm like, if a guy is 10 metres in front of me, I don't care if he stayed in the middle of his lane, he was going to beat me anyway," Crawford said in the AP story. "He didn't impede in anybody's race."

Martina had finished in 19.82 seconds behind Bolt, who ran a new world record 19.30 seconds in the event. Crawford's time was 19.96.

"It wasn't about doing the right thing. It's just me as an athlete - I feel like we all compete and train for four years to get to the Olympic Games," Crawford told AP. "He was told he finished second after all that, he took a victory lap. I can understand his humiliation and embarrassment and all that. Me being an athlete, I know how he feels, so I feel like it was to me to give it up to him."

Formal protest

Meanwhile, Martina has been pursuing a formal protest with the Court of Arbitration for Sports to be officially reinstated as 200-metre runner-up in Beijing.

If the 24-year-old Martina wins the appeal, his effort would become a new national record and cost the United States an Olympic medal since Walter Dix was promoted to third.

It would also be just the Netherlands Antilles' second Olympic medal ever, following a silver medal for Jan Boersma in sailing at the Seoul Games two decades ago.