The IOC stripped the medals Thursday from Marion Jones' US relay teammates at the 2000 Olympics because of her doping history. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board disqualified the athletes who won gold in the 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the 400-meter relay in Sydney. IOC legal adviser Francois Carrard, who assisted the disciplinary panel investigating the case, told The Associated Press that the US Olympic Committee has been ordered to return the medals. The decision follows the admission by Jones last year that she was doping at the time of the Sydney Games. She returned her five medals last year and the IOC formally stripped her of the results in December. Jones won gold in the 100 meters, 200 and 1,600 relay, and bronze in the long jump and 400 relay. 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 runners had previously 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. The IOC had put off any decision on reallocating the medals, pending more information from the ongoing BALCO steroid investigation in the United States. A reshuffling of the medals could affect the medal results of more than three dozen other athletes. The IOC wants to know whether any other Sydney athletes are implicated in the BALCO files. In December, IOC President Jacques Rogge said the committee had initiated the process for removing the relay medals, but would give the runners 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 Aug. 8-24 Olympics. Jamaica took silver behind the US in the 1,600 relay and will move up to gold if the standings are adjusted. Russia was third and Nigeria fourth. In the 400 relay, France was fourth behind the Americans. After long denying she ever had 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' 100-meter gold to Thanou, who was at the center 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 hospitalized 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. __
