Johnson - File

BEIJING (AP):

THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped gold medals yesterday from the US men's 4x400 metre relay team that competed at the 2000 Olympics in the aftermath of Antonio Petti-grew's admission that he was doping at the time.

The IOC executive board disqualified the entire team, the fourth gold and sixth overall medal stripped from that US track contingent in the past eight months for doping.

Three gold and two bronze were previously removed after Marion Jones confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs.

Yesterday's decision was almost a formality after Pettigrew gave up his gold medal in June. During a trial involving former track coach Trevor Graham, he admitted in May that he used EPO and human growth hormone from 1997 to 2003.

Five of Pettigrew's teammates also lose their medals: Michael Johnson and twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison ran in the final; Jerome Young and Angelo Taylor ran in the preliminaries.

Felt cheated

It was Johnson's fifth gold medal of his stellar career. He has already said he was giving it back because he felt "cheated, betrayed and let down" by Pettigrew's testimony. Johnson still holds world records in the 200 and 400m.

The IOC has put off any decision on reallocating the US medals until later this year when it takes into account all the files from the BALCO investigation in the United States.

No time frame for a decision on medal redistribution has been set, although an eight-year statute of limitations expires on October 1.