Jones stripped of medals
Marion Jones has been formally stripped of her five Olympic medals, but the IOC have postponed a decision on whether her relay team-mates will lose their medals.
The American sprinter has already handed back the three gold and two bronze medals she won at the Sydney Games in 2000, after admitting she had used banned drugs.
The IOC’s executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, today confirmed her name will be removed from the record books for Sydney and also from Athens in 2004 – where she competed in the long jump.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said a hearing would be set up to decide whether the rest of Jones’ relay team would also lose their medals – something that looks certain, because the US Olympic Committee has said it will not back their claims to keep them.
Jones won gold in the 4x400m relay and bronze in the 4x100m.
Rogge added that no decision would be taken on upgrading other athletes’ medals until the full report had been received into the BALCO scandal in the USA that led to Jones’ cheating being uncovered.
Rogge said: “The issue of Ms Jones has been very damaging, but it is a good thing for the fight against doping. The more athletes we catch, the more credibility we have.
“We will not re-distribute any of the other rankings until after the review of the BALCO case because other names may well come out.”
