Adams might wait months for gold medal

UPDATE / August 14: In a dramatic development overnight, Valerie Adams was awarded a gold medal after original shot put winner Nadzeya Ostapchuk failed a drugs test.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says the New Zealander might have to wait weeks or even months to reciever her medal.

Latest: TAB takes $100K hit on Adams

NZ Olympic Committee president Mike Stanley says a special medal ceremony will be staged for Ms Adams.

A time and format had yet to be set.

The International Olympic Committee first needs to extract the gold medal from Belarus before it can be awarded to the rightful winner.

Ms Ostapchuk reportedly called the drug test result "nonsense", indicating she may not give up her medal without a fight.

If the worst comes to the worst, the IOC says it has 25 spare gold medals. Forbes estimates it costs around $NZ850 to make each gold medal.

Although still AWOL, the gold medal is New Zealand's sixth.

It takes the country from 16th to 13th equal on the gold medal table – just one short of Australia.

Ms Adams, back in her home base of Switzerland, told TVNZ she had nothing to say to Ms Ostapchuk. She did not want to waste any breath on the drugs cheat.

Her Belarusian archrival (31) tested positive for metenolone, an anabolic streroid.

"It is huge and I am absolutely thrilled of course. It makes me extraordinarily proud as a New Zealander," Ms Adams said.

"It is also encouraging for those athletes, like myself who are proud to compete cleanly, that the system works and doping cheats are caught."

Her elevation to gold also means Ms Adams Sports NZ incentive grant will be bumped up from $55,000 to $60,000.

The Belarusian was the eighth athlete and first medal winner to be expelled from the London Games. The IOC took 5000 urine and blood samples.

Meanwhile, undeterred by the controversy, Communist Party mouthpiece Pravda says Russia led the London 2012 medal table in a broad-brush count that includes former Soviet republics Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Belarus.

Over the weekend, Sports Minister Murray McCully said he will meet Athletics NZ officials this week over a clerical error that saw Ms Adams nearly disqualified.

The revised medal table: