The 19-year-old from Newport was presented the brand new official Delhi 2010 gold medal by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief executive Mike Hooper at a special ceremony at the Sport Wales National Centre at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff to draw the line under a long running saga that saw McGoldrick receive his winners' prize some eight months after the competition in India last October.

"It has been a long wait but it is absolutely fantastic that it has finally happened and it feels amazing," said McGoldrick at the ceremony attended by his family and friends.

"It makes it special that everyone is here and it is just fantastic that everyone has made the effort to come out and see me get the medal.

"It has been an amazing day."


McGoldrick received the gold medal following the removal of Manju Wanniarachchi from the results after the Sri Lankan boxer was found guilty of an anti-doping violation at the Delhi 2010 Games.

The opportunity for Wanniarachchi to appeal his expulsion from the Games lapsed last week, without the athlete taking any further action and the disqualification of the Sri Lankan from all results in Delhi has led to a re-awarding of medals from the event.

While McGoldrick takes gold, the silver medal has been awarded to Tirafalo Seoko from Botswana who lost to Wanniarachchi at the semi-finals.

The man who lost to McGoldrick in the semi-finals, Louis Julie from Mauritius, retains his bronze while the second bronze medal has gone to Nicholas Okoth from Kenya, who was defeated by Wanniarachchi in the quarterfinals.

Okoth, the Kenya Open bantamweight champion of the Defence Forces Amateur Boxing Association (AFABA), admitted he was delighted with the news which came as he prepares for the World Military Games in Brazil next month.

"The medal will boost my morale as I prepare for the World Military Games and the forthcoming All Africa Games in Maputo," Okoth said.

"The Sri Lankan boxer beat me 10:1 in the quarter-finals and was unbeaten in all his bouts.

"We suspected him to have used drugs from the manner he was boxing."

Wanniarachchi had ended Sri Lanka's 72-year gold medal drought at the Commonwealth Games by beating McGoldrick in the final.

However, the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka announced later that the boxer had failed a drugs test when a urine sample provided by the boxer had contained nandrolone, a banned performance enhancing drug.

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