IOC to speed up decision on Jones’ medals

August 15, 2009 09:36 am | Updated 09:36 am IST - BERLIN

Former Olympic champion Marion Jones. Photo: AP

Former Olympic champion Marion Jones. Photo: AP

The IOC agreed on Friday to speed up the process to determine whether to redistribute the medals stripped from Marion Jones for doping at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The American athlete lost all five of her medals – including three golds - after admitting in 2007 that she was using performance-enhancing drugs at the time of the games.

The International Olympic Committee has held off reallocating the medals to other athletes, pending more evidence in the BALCO steroid probe and appeals by Jones’ relay teammates.

The issue was discussed Friday in a joint meeting of the IOC executive board and the council of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said the IAAF pushed to have the cases resolved “as soon as possible.” The IOC, he said, will combine all elements of the Jones and BALCO cases and keep in contact with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

“We have decided this morning to speed up the process as soon as possible,” Rogge said. He said a ruling is expected in the next few months from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the appeal by U.S. relay runners who were stripped of their medals because of Jones’ doping. The IOC disqualified her teammates, but conceded none of them broke any rules.

IAAF president Lamine Diack said he expects “some news” by October. Jones won gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-metre relay in Sydney, and bronze in the long jump and 400-metre relay.

Among those attending Friday’s meeting was Pauline-Davis Thompson of the Bahamas, who finished second in the 200 in Sydney and is waiting to learn if she will be bumped up to Jones’ gold.

“We talked about this with Miss Davis,” Rogge said. IOC officials are reluctant to hand Jones’ 100 gold to silver medallist Katerina Thanou, a Greek sprinter at the centre of a doping scandal at the 2004 Athens Games. She and fellow Greek runner Kostas Kenteris missed drug tests on the eve of the opening ceremony and claimed they were injured in a motorcycle accident. They were forced to pull out of the games and were later suspended for two years.

One option under consideration is leaving the gold medal spot vacant. Jones’ teammates on the 1,600 relay 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.

Jamaica took silver behind the U.S. in the 1,600 relay and stands to move up to gold if the medals are readjusted.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.