Johnson allowed to keep gold medal after appeal

SPORTS DIGEST: ATHLETICS Five years after the Sydney Games, American Michael Johnson was told by a court in Switzerland yesterday that he could keep the last of his five Olympic gold medals.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal by US athletics officials to end a lengthy battle over the golds won by Johnson's squad in the 4x400 metres relay in 2000.

Athletics' world ruling body, the IAAF, had recommended to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the American squad be stripped of their medals because of a doping violation by squad member Jerome Young in 1999.

Yesterday's decision means Johnson and four other members keep their gold medals from the event but the court recommended that Young, subsequently banned for life for another doping offence, should lose his.

The IAAF said it was extremely disappointed with the CAS decision which it regretted but would accept as final and binding.

American Olympic and athletics officials welcomed the ruling.

The court said IAAF rules in force at the time of the Sydney Games did not allow for a whole team to be disqualified because of the actions of one of its members.

"In conclusion, the (court's) panel decided that on the basis of the IAAF rules applicable at the time of the Sydney Games, the results of the men's 4x400 metre relay event at the Sydney Games should not be amended and that only Jerome Young in the US team should be stripped of his gold medal," it said.

Lausanne-based CAS had ruled in 2004 that Young should not have been allowed to run in Sydney because of the 1999 positive test for the anabolic steroid nandrolone, which carried a two-year ban at the time.

CRICKET: After the success of the senior team this month to qualify for the 2007 World Cup, the underage section of the Irish Cricket Union has also been doing their part to ensure a strong future for the game on this island, reports James Fitzgerald.

Yesterday the under-17s beat Scotland by 103 runs to take the European Championships in Denmark while in Dublin, the under-13s were crowned champions of their corresponding tournament, despite losing to Scotland by just one wicket.

Next week, it will be the turn of the under-19s with their European Championships taking place in Dundee.

Apart from the title of European Champions, at stake will be a place for the winners in the under-19 World Cup next year.