Nearly eight years after the Sydney Olympics, the IOC is prepared to disqualify Marion Jones' U.S. relay teammates because of her doping history. Any reallocation of the medals, however, is expected to be postponed again.
What to do with Jones' five medals from the 2000 Games is among the main agenda items this week for the International Olympic Committee executive board, which opens a two-day meeting in Beijing today.
Any reshuffling of the medals could affect the medal results of more than three dozen other athletes. But IOC officials say they are likely to wait for further evidence from the BALCO steroid investigation in the United States before making a final decision on redistributing the medals.
The IOC wants to know whether any other Sydney athletes are implicated in the BALCO files.
"It makes no sense to distribute medals now and take them back in six months," said a senior IOC official involved in the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because the executive board has not yet been told.
Jones won gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay in Sydney, and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay. She returned the medals last year after admitting she was doping at the time of the Sydney Games.
The IOC formally stripped Jones of her medals at its last executive board meeting in December. But the board delayed a decision on the relay teams and reallocation of medals, including whether to upgrade doping-tainted Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou to gold in the 100.
Medal changes
The three-member disciplinary panel dealing with the Jones case is set to recommend to the board that both relay teams be disqualified, but that any medal changes be put off, the IOC official said.
Jones' teammates on the 1,600 squad were Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson. The 400-relay squad also had Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson.
The American runners have refused to give up their medals, saying it would be wrong to punish them for Jones' violations. They have hired a US lawyer to defend their case, which could wind up in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In December, IOC president Jacques Rogge said the committee had initiated the process for removing the relay teams' medals, but would give the runners a chance to state their case at a hearing. He said the athletes would be represented by the US Olympic Committee, even though the American body has already said the relays were tainted and the medals should be returned.
The next IOC board meeting takes place in Athens in June, followed by another meeting in Beijing on the eve of the August 8-24 Olympics.
Jamaica took silver behind the U.S. in the 1,600 relay and stands to move up to gold if the medals are readjusted. Russia was third and Nigeria fourth. In the 400 relay, France was fourth behind the Americans.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily April 10, 2008)