IOC delays reallocating Jones medals

Athletics:   The International Olympic Committee delayed a decision to reallocate medals won by Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics…

Athletics:  The International Olympic Committee delayed a decision to reallocate medals won by Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics because more athletes may be involved in the BALCO doping affair, an IOC official said today.

The IOC executive board meeting that started today was set to strip Jones's five medals, including three golds, after the US sprinter confessed in October to taking banned substances.

It will further investigate the case for fear that more Olympic athletes, who could be upgraded, may be involved in the BALCO affair.

Several prominent athletes have been embroiled in the doping scandal involving the San Francisco-based BALCO laboratory, the latest being baseball player Barry Bonds who has been charged with perjury over alleged drugs use.

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"We feel that some names of athletes may still appear (in the BALCO case)," disciplinary commission member Denis Oswald said. "We know there were more athletes-clients.

"We want to know more about the BALCO case and be sure that other athletes who may be positively affected (by the upgrading) are not involved in this."

Asked whether the board would rule this week on the redistribution of the medals Jones had won in Sydney, he said: "No, for the time being." He said a decision on that was "a matter of months."

Among those standing to benefit from upgrading is Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, who won silver in 2000 but was suspended for two years in 2004 after missing a doping test on the eve of the Athens Olympics.

A Greek prosecutor recently shelved an investigation into possible links between BALCO and Thanou, fellow sprinter Costas Kenteris and their former coach Christos Tzekos because of a lack of evidence.

Oswald said the IOC needed more information on the BALCO affair before upgrading athletes. Asked whether he was referring to Thanou, Oswald said: "Yes."

"We feel we don't know all the names of athletes," Oswald one of the three members on the commission, dubbed the BALCO commission, said. "We are expecting more information."

The IOC will also need more time to decide whether to strip the medals from the two relay teams that Jones ran in, the 4x100 metres and the 4x400.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) proposed late last month for all medals to be stripped.

"The IAAF decided that they would lose their medals and we are supposed to follow what they propose," Oswald said. "The question is about their right to be heard. They have never tested positive."  Reuters