Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann have finally received their Winter Olympic gold medals from Sochi 2014 ©Facebook

Swiss bobsledders Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann have retrospectively received their Winter Olympic Games two-man gold medals from Sochi 2014 after Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda were stripped of the title for doping.

Hefti and Baumann, who have both retired from the sport, were given their medals by Swiss Olympic President  Jürg Stahl at a ceremony in Schwellbrunn.

Around 500 guests were in attendance to mark the occasion, bringing the Swiss pair's agonising wait for their titles to an end.

Zubkov and Voevoda pipped Hefti and Baumann to the two-man crown at Sochi 2014 but were both later disqualified for their role in the state-sponsored doping scheme Russia orchestrated at their home Winter Olympic Games.

Zubkov, also stripped of the four-man gold medal, and Voevoda were sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in late 2017.

It took until January of this year for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) to confirm two-year bans against the two Russian athletes.

The verdict forced Zubkov to stand down as President of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation in March.

He was replaced by Elena Anikina, a former vice-president of the RBF and who led Sochi's successful bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann were second in the two-man bob at Sochi 2014 behind the Russians Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda,later stripped of their title for doping ©Getty Images
Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann were second in the two-man bob at Sochi 2014 behind the Russians Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda,later stripped of their title for doping ©Getty Images

Zubkov has continually refused to return his gold medals to the IOC.

Alexander Kasjanov, Aleksei Pushkarev and Ilvir Khuzin, who competed on Russia's second four-man team which finished fourth at the Games, were also suspended for their involvement in the doping scandal and the quartet have filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The World Anti-Doping Agency is appealing the length of the bans given to the four athletes by the IBSF as it deems the punishments are insufficient.

It seems unlikely CAS would overturn the IBSF verdict when it has already ruled against Zubkov and the other sliders.

The IBSF Panel acted after an earlier ruling from CAS, which demanded Zubkov return his gold medals after the IOC said he had been guilty of knowingly participating in the manipulation of the anti-doping system.

The case against him is said to be one of the strongest as his sample included "physiologically impossible levels of salt".

CAS also ruled that he had provided clean urine before Sochi 2014, a key barometer in establishing guilt of the individual athletes involved.