JONES
BEIJING (AP):
NEARLY EIGHT years after the Sydney Olympics, the IOC is prepared to disqualify Marion Jones' United States 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.
Jamaica took silver behind the US in the 1,600 relay and stand to move up to gold if the medals are readjusted. Russia were third and Nigeria fourth. In the 400 relay, France were fourth behind the Americans.
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 briefed.
Jones won gold medals in the 100 metres, 200m and 4x400m relay in Sydney, and bronze in the long jump and 4x100m 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.
The three-member disciplinary panel dealing with the Jones case is set to recommend to the board today 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.
After long denying she ever used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted in federal court in October that she used the designer steroid "the clear" from September 2000 to July 2001. She began serving a six-month prison sentence last month for lying to investigators about doping and her role in a check fraud scam.
There is strong reluctance among IOC officials to award Jones' 100m gold to Thanou, who was at the centre of a major scandal four years later in Athens. She and fellow Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris failed to show for pre-Games drug checks and were hospitalised after claiming they were injured in a motorcycle crash on the way to the tests.
Thanou and Kenteris missed the Games and were later banned for two years.
One option under consideration by IOC officials is leaving the gold medal spot vacant.
The bronze medallist in the 100 was Tanya Lawrence, with fellow Jamaican Merlene Ottey fourth.
In the 200, Pauline-Davis Thompson of the Bahamas took silver behind Jones. Sri Lanka's Susan Jayasinghe was third and Jamaica's Beverly McDonald fourth.
