Aug-03-2008IOC Strips Gold Medals From 2000 Olympics US Relay Team(topic overview)
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From left are, Antonio Pettigrew, Calvin Harrison, Michael Johnson and Alvin Harrison. The International Olympic Committee stripped gold medals Saturday Aug. 2, 2008 from the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team that competed at the 2000 Olympics in the aftermath of Antonio Pettigrew's admission that he was doping at the time. "A decision on reallocating the medals and diplomas of those affected by these decisions will be made at a future meeting of the IOC Executive Board," the IOC said Saturday in a statement issued in Beijing. In May, Pettigrew admitted injecting human growth hormone and the oxygen-boosting drug EPO, both banned in track. [1] THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) today turned up the heat on drugs cheats less than a week before the Beijing Games, stripping the controversial U.S. men's 4x400m relay team of the gold they won in Sydney 2000. The IOC executive board today decided to disqualify the entire men's relay team and strip them of their medals after Antonio Pettigrew earlier this year admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs between 1997 and 2003. The decision means Michael Johnson, the man once dubbed the world's fastest man, will lose one of the five Olympic gold medals he won at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney four years later. Today's IOC decision is regarded as a formality, and Johnson has already said he would hand back his medal because it was tainted.[2] The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), meeting today in Beijing at its final meeting before the 2008 Olympic Games, has reached a decision in the case of Mr. Antonio Pettigrew, a member of the U.S. team who placed first in the Mens 4x400 relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Mr Pettigrew has since admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs while competing in Sydney and subsequently returned his medal. Further to the recommendations of the IOC Disciplinary Commission, the EB has disqualified Mr Pettigrew from the events in which he competed at the 2000 Olympic Games (4x400m relay, 1st place team, and 400m, 7th place). Mr Pettigrew is now ineligible for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and further sanctions may be taken against him pending the outcome of the ongoing BALCO investigation. In a related decision, Mr Pettigrew's teammates in the U.S. Mens 4x400m Relay team suffered as a result of his doping offence, as the team were formally disqualified from the 4x400 meters relay event at the 2000 Olympic Games.[3]
The IOC executive board have disqualified the whole team following Antonio Pettigrew's admission of doping in May. Michael Johnson had already handed back his medal, calling it "tainted", with Pettigrew also relinquishing his medal less than two weeks after admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs while testifying in the trial of coach Trevor Graham. Twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison, Jerome Young and Angelo Taylor have now also been told by the IOC to return their medals, although no decision has yet been taken on the redistribution of the medals. An IOC statement read: "Further to the recommendations of the IOC Disciplinary Commission, the Executive Board has disqualified Mr Pettigrew from the events in which he competed at the 2000 Olympic Games (4x400m relay first place team, and 400m seventh place). "Mr Pettigrew is now ineligible for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and further sanctions may be taken against him pending the outcome of the ongoing BALCO investigation. "In a related decision, Mr Pettigrew's team-mates in the U.S. men's 4x400m relay team suffered as a result of his doping offence, as the team were formally disqualified from the 4x400 metres relay event at the 2000 Olympic Games.[4] Saturday, the IOC executive board went for the slam dunk in removing a 2000 Olympic gold medal from U.S. runner Antonio Pettigrew, who testified in the recent Trevor Graham trial to having taken banned drugs before, during and after the 2000 Games. Then the IOC took the medals away from the members of the U.S. men's 400-meter relay on which Pettigrew won his gold -- or from those members who still had or wanted them, that is. Relay member Michael Johnson, in a bit of grandstanding, said he was giving his medal back in the wake of Pettigrew's testimony. Relay member Jerome Young already lost his because he should have been ineligible for the 2000 Olympics because of a doping positive. Now relay members Angelo Taylor and twins Calvin and Alvin Harrison lose theirs. Ironically, all the members but Young had kept their medals when the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in 2005 (after it was determined Young should have been banned) that it was "legal abracadabra" to punish all members of a relay that included one doped athlete because rules at the time did not specify such punishment. That CAS ruling still applies if Taylor and the Harrisons wanted to appeal the IOC's Saturday move. Of course, since both Harrisons also were found guilty of doping after 2000, they might be disinclined to make such an appeal.[5]
Pettigrew, who never failed a drug test, admitted in May to using the blood booster EPO and human growth hormone before, during and after the 2000 Olympics. He voluntarily surrendered his gold medal. On Saturday IOC decided that teammates Michael Johnson, Angelo Taylor, Jerome Young and the twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison will also lose their gold medals from the 2000 Olympics 1,600-meter relay. Michael Johnson, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in individual events, voluntarily gave up his relay gold medal in July already. The latest Olympics doping scandal comes days before the start of the 2008 Beijing event and months after track star Marion Jones, who also never tested positive, was stripped of her five medals from the 2000 Games, as part of the the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) steroids case. Jones is currently serving a 6-month sentence for lying to federal agents about her steroid use, as well as for her involvement in a check-fraud scheme.[6] Pettigrew, who never failed a drug test, admitted in May to using the blood booster EPO and human growth hormone before, during and after the Games in Sydney. He returned his medal in June. Another team member, Michael Johnson, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in individual events, voluntarily gave up his relay gold medal in July. The rest of the team - Angelo Taylor, Jerome Young and the twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison - must now return their gold medals to the U.S. Olympic Committee which, in turn, will deliver the medals to the IOC offices in Lausanne, Switzerland.[7]
At the trial of his former coach Trevor Graham in May, Pettigrew confessed that he had taken performance enhancing drugs for a period of six years between 1997 and 2003. The International Olympic Committee have announced that Pettigrew, Alvin Harrison, Calvin Harrison and Michael Johnson will all be stripped of their medals, as will team-mate Angelo Taylor, who ran in the preliminary rounds. IOC communications director Giselle Davies said: "It was decided that the entire U.S. relay team will be disqualified from the Sydney Games." Johnson insists he must now be known as a four-time Olympic gold medal-winner rather than a five-time champion and that Pettigrew's confession had "shocked me like no other drug-related story". The United States Anti-Doping Agency have annulled all Pettigrew's competitive results since January 1997 and said the athlete had also voluntarily surrendered his Sydney gold and his 1997 and 1999 world championship relay golds. The decision could lead to the U.S. team also losing their 4x400 metres world record of 2:54.20 set in July 1998.[8] The United States men's 4x400m relay team have been stripped of the gold medals won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The decision comes in the wake of former world 400m champion Antonio Pettigrew giving up his medal after his admission of doping offences. Pettigrew's team-mates Michael Johnson and Alvin and Calvin Harrison, who ran in the final, plus Jerome Young and Angelo Taylor, also lose their medals.[9] Pettigrew was a member of the four-man team that consisted of the renowned Michael Johnson, who will now be known as a four-time gold medal winner of the Sydney Games, and Alvin and Calvin Harrison. Jerome Young and Angelo Taylor ran in the preliminaries and were also stripped of their medals. This is just another black mark for the United States in track-and-field. The now infamous Marion Jones had three gold and two bronze medals taken from her possession after she admitted using performance enhancing drugs during her reign atop the world rankings.[10] Three gold and two bronze were previously removed after Marion Jones confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs. Saturday's decision was almost a formality after Pettigrew gave up his gold medal in June. He admitted in court 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. 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.[11]
The IOC's withdrawal of the gold medal is seen as something as a formality. The move comes two months after runner Antonio Pettigrew's admission in May that he had used EPO, a performance-enhancing substance, and human growth hormone from 1997 to 2003. Five others lost their gold medals from that event in Sydney: Michael Johnson and twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison ran in the final; Jerome Young and Angelo Taylor ran in the preliminaries. Johnson, a world record holder in the 200 and 400-metre sprints, has already said he would return the medal because he felt "cheated, betrayed and let down" by Pettigrew. Both Alvin and Calvin Harrison have been suspended in the years after Sydney for doping violations.[12]
From left are, Antonio Pettigrew, Calvin Harrison, Michael Johnson and Alvin Harrison. The International Olympic Committee stripped gold medals Saturday from the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team that competed at the 2000 Olympics in the aftermath of Antonio Pettigrew's admission that he was doping at the time.[13] Hours after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for clenbuterol at the U.S. Olympic trials, the red, white and blue were dealt an even bigger blow by the International Olympic Committee when the U.S. men's 1600-meter relay team were stripped of their gold medals won at the 2000 Olympics. The IOC disqualified the entire team on Saturday, two months after Antonio Pettigrew admitted in open court that he took EPO and human growth hormone. He gave up his gold medal in June.[10] BEIJING (AFP) — The International Olympic Committee said Saturday it has stripped the United States' 4x400-metre men's relay team of the gold medal it won at the Sydney 2000 Olympics for doping. The decision was made after team member Antonio Pettigrew admitted in May to doping as far back as 1997 and agreed to return his Sydney gold medal, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.[14] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided Saturday to disqualify the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team that won the gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Games. The decision is based on the confession of the sprinter Antonio Pettigrew, who admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs at those Olympics.[6] The International Olympic Committee disqualified sprinter Antonio Pettigrew and the rest of the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team from the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games because Pettigrew admitted using illegal performance-enhancing drugs at those games. The entire team must return its gold medals to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which will deliver them to the IOC offices in Lausanne, Switzerland.[15]
The International Olympic Committee has retroactively disqualified the entire U.S. team that won the men's 4x400-meter relay at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, stripping the team of its gold medals because one member, Antonio Pettigrew, admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.[1]
BEIJING -- The International Olympic Committee on Saturday stripped gold medals from the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team that competed at the 2000 Olympics. The decision to disqualify the entire team comes two months after Antonio Pettigrew's admission that he used EPO and human growth hormone from 1997 to 2003.[16] Hot start for the U.S. Olympic contingent. of 2000. The IOC stripped the U.S. men's 4x400 relay team from the Sydney Olympics of its gold medal because one of the runners, Antonio Pettigrew, recently admitted blood doping during the Games.[17] An indelible stain continues to spread over the U.S. track and field program, with the IOC yesterday stripping the Sydney men's 1,600-meter relay team of all its medals in the wake of Antonio Pettigrew's doping bust. The story notes that this is the fourth gold medal and sixth medal overall stripped from U.S. track athletes in the last eight months. The IOC, meanwhile, continues to struggle with what to do about the domino effect of Olympic medals in the wake of disgraced U.S. sprinter Marion Jones' disqualification from her events in Sydney. If they do the usual thing and move the second, third and fourth place finishers up, they would wind up awarding a gold medal in the 100 meters to Katerina Thanou of Greece, who later would go on to infamy as one of the notorious dope-test-evading athletes in her home-nation Games of 2004.[18]
Pettigrew acknowledged using the prohibited blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) and the human growth hormone (HGH) beginning on or about January 1997 through to 2003. The U.S. relay team had already come under scrutiny when Young, who ran in a preliminary round in Sydney, had his gold medal stripped in 2004, also for a doping offence. The 4x400m gold is the sixth American medal from the Sydney Games lost to doping in the past eight months after the sprinter Marion Jones was stripped of her five medals after her confession to using drugs last year.[8] "It was decided that the entire U.S. relay team will be disqualified from the Sydney Games. It forms part of a wider piece of work on the Balco case," stated Davies. The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or Balco, was a U.S. company based in California that initially specialised in food supplements but would become far more famous for its sideline in performance-enhancing drugs. Pettigrew, now retired, admitted in May during the trial of former coach Trevor Graham that he had used performance-enhancing drugs for about six years. His admission has led to track legend Johnson declaring he would be returning his Sydney relay gold anyway, as he feels he had not won it legitimately. Johnson, who won five Olympic golds and who has not been linked to the use of banned substances, has insisted he now wants to be known as just a four-time champion. Young, who ran in the Sydney preliminary rounds, had already been stripped of his medal because of a doping offence.[9] The Nigerian quartet finished second at the Sydney Games eight years ago with Jamaica third and the Bahamas fourth. Former world 400m champion Pettigrew, now retired, admitted during the trial of former coach Trevor Graham earlier this year that he had used performance-enhancing drugs for about six years. His admission led to U.S. Olympic champion Michael Johnson to declare that he would return his gold medal as he felt he had not won it legitimately.[19]
Jerome Young, the fourth member, had also been caught doping. Michael Johnson, the five-time Olympic champion and the only relay team member not linked to banned substance use, said after Pettigrew's admission that he would return his Sydney gold medal.[14] As long as the clean athlete remains silent the cheaters only have to worry about an under-funded, under-effective anti doping agency. Relay members Jerome Young and twins Calvin and Alvin Harrison all have failed drug tests at various points in their career. My heart goes out to those clean members of the 1,600-meter relay team. Michael Johnson and Angelo Taylor, who lost their Olympic gold medals. They haven'''t lost their self-respect, or the respect of any decent American.[20] Nigeria finished second in that event in 2000, Jamaica was third and the Bahamas fourth. Pettigrew's teammates -- Michael Johnson, Angelo Taylor, Jerome Young and twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison -- will also lose their medals. Johnson, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in individual events, voluntarily gave up his relay gold medal in July.[15] Marion Jones was stripped of three golds and two bronzes after admitting steroid use in another federal court case. Besides Pettigrew, those losing their relay medals were Michael Johnson, Jerome Young, Angelo Taylor and twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison.[21]
It'''s worth more than any medal. Photo: Runners (from the left) Antonio Pettigrew, twin brothers Calvin and Alvin Harrison and Michael Johnson celebrate with their Olympic gold medals after winning the 1,600-meter relay at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Inspired by Diabetes is a global campaign that encourages people touched by diabetes to share their stories with others around the world.[20] The gold-winning relay team included Johnson and twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has annulled all Pettigrew's competitive results since Jan 1997 and has said the athlete had also voluntarily surrendered his 2000 Sydney Olympics 4x400m relay gold medal and his 1997 and 1999 world championship relay golds.[19]
The U.S. 4x400 meters relay team was stripped of the gold they won in 2000 Sydney Olympic Games following Antonio Pettigrew's admission of doping, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced here on Saturday.[22] The United States' 4x400m relay team that won gold at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 have been stripped of their medals after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping.[8] Beijing - The United States was on Saturday finally stripped of the men's 4x400 metres relay gold medal from the 2000 Olympics in the wake of doping confessions by relay team member Antonio Pettigrew.[23] Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. 1,600-meter relay team from the 2000 Olympics was stripped of its gold medals because of a confession of drug use by one member, Antonio Pettigrew.[21]
Clean athletes have a responsibility to not remain silent when it comes to doping in sports. It was announced on Friday that the International Olympic Committee had stripped the gold medal from the 2000 U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team.[20] The International Olympic Committee has formally stripped the gold medals from the American men's 4x400 metres relay team from the 2000 Sydney Games.[4] Olympic drug busters are targeting elite training groups of athletes in a last-minute blitz of tests aimed at rooting out as many cheats as possible before the Beijing Games begin on Friday. The renewed drive comes as the number of suspected drug cheats barred from the Games rose to nine and on the day the International Olympic Committee acknowledged the tainted past of the Games by stripping the United States 4x400metres relay team of their gold medal from Sydney 2000.[24]
Australia finished eighth. "It was decided that the entire U.S. relay team would be disqualified from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, therefore their first place gold medal. has now been disqualified,'' she told reporters in Beijing.[2] THEN: Hall, a former state champion at Detroit Pershing, placed sixth in the men's 400 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials in 1992 and earned a spot as a relay alternate on the 1,600-meter relay team at the Barcelona Games. Though he didn't run in the finals, Hall won a gold medal for his work in getting the U.S. team through the heats.[25] The United States' 4x400 metres relay team have been stripped of the gold medal they won at the Sydney Games in 2000.[19] Saturday's move came four months after the IOC stripped the gold from the U.S. women's 1,600-meter relay team and bronze from the women's 400-meter relay squad because of doping by Jones. She admitted last year that she used drugs at the time and returned her five medals, including gold in the 100 meters and 200 meters and bronze in the long jump. The IOC has put off any decision on reallocating the U.S. medals until later this year when it takes into account all the files from the BALCO investigation in the United States.[11] The decision to strip the relay team of gold takes the U.S. medal tally lost to doping offences in the past eight months to six. American sprinter Marion Jones was most recently stripped of her five medals following her doping confession last year.[19]
American swimmer Hardy, a gold medal hopeful in the 100m breaststroke and in the U.S. relay teams, agreed to withdraw after testing positive for clenbuterol. The revelations came on the day the IOC stripped the American 4x400m team of their gold medal from the Sydney Olympics.[24] The news came as the IOC pulled a gold medal back from the U.S. 1,600-metre relay team at the 2000 Games in Sydney over doping.[12]
In this Sept. 30, 2000 file photo, the U.S. men's 4x400-meter relay team celebrates after winning the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Sydney.[13]
The spotlight will now switch to IAAF president Lamine Diack, who wants to give Britain the gold medal from the 1997 track World Championships. Roger Black led a relay squad to silver in that event, finishing behind a U.S. team that included Pettigrew, who has admitted he was on drugs.[24] "Pettigrew admitted using banned substances before, during and after the Sydney Games. He admitted he was performing and competing under the use of drugs. The executive board decided today that he would be disqualified from the events in which he competed in Sydney, mainly 4x400m relay in which his team came first in Sydney and also 400m where he came seven," IOC communications director Giselle Davies told reporters. She said the executive board did not discuss the reallocation of the medals.[22] Marion Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Games, also never tested positive for drugs, but the IOC formally stripped her of those medals last year. She is now serving six months in prison for her involvement in a fraud and for lying to federal agents about her drug use. Joness relay teammates at the Sydney Games in the womens 1,600-meter and 400-meter relays were also stripped of their medals. For now, the IOCs executive board will not reallocate the medals from either of those cases.[7]
The winning time at the Athens Games, 16 years of nutrition and training science later, was nearly a half-second slower. The only woman to ever come close to Flo-Jo's times, Marion Jones (10.65 seconds, 1998), has since admitted to steroid use and been stripped of all her medals and records. Rumors about drug use swirled around Flo-Jo, and intensified after her unusual death, in bed at her home, at age 38 in 1998.[18]
It is the fourth gold and sixth overall medal stripped from that U.S. track squad in the past eight months for doping, the others coming after Marion Jones finally confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs.[16] The IOC is still looking into the BALCO laboratory case after Marion Jones admitted to doping in Sydney as well, using forbidden substances supplied by the lab. She won three gold and two bronze medals in Sydney.[23] The IOC will wait until it thinks no more doping bombshells will fall. It also has to decide what to do with the standings for the two 2000 Olympic relays that included Marion Jones, who has been stripped of her three golds and two bronzes after admitting to doping. She won a gold on the 4 x 400 relay and bronze on the 4 x 100.[5]
The IOC is reluctant to hand Jones' 100 gold to silver medalist Katerina Thanou, a Greek sprinter at the center of a doping scandal at the 2004 Athens Games. Swimmer Jessica Hardy has withdrawn from the U.S. Olympic team, and won't pursue her appeal of a doping ban prior to the Beijing Games, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said.[26] "Athletes who make the unacceptable choice to cheat should recognize that there will be consequences. Those consequences can be severe including the loss of medals and results. We're in full support of this action. In other matters like this in the past we've worked with the IOC to make certain medals will be returned, and we'll do so again." The IOC also disqualified Pettigrew from his seventh-place finish in the individual 400 meters in Sydney. The committee banned him from attending the upcoming Beijing Games "in any capacity," including as a competitor, coach or technical official. Pettigrew has retired from competition, and the U.S. Olympic Committee said there were no plans for him to be in Beijing.[13] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board made the decision at meetings ahead of the Beijing Games, but did not immediately re-allocate the medals.[23] All medals and diplomas awarded to the team must now be returned to the IOC, via the U.S. Olympic Committee. A decision on reallocating the medals and diplomas of those affected by these decisions will be made at a future meeting of the IOC Executive Board.[3]
The International Olympic Committee's executive board took the action because Pettigrew admitted in a U.S. court case to using human growth hormone and endurance-boosting erythropoietin during the Games eight years ago.[21] The cause of death was listed as asphyxiation as a result of severe epileptic seizure. Medical records confirmed she had been treated for seizures on several occasions before, and an autopsy confirmed a congenital brain abnormality. She was accused near the end of her career by athletes, including one U.S. teammate, of using human growth hormone and other substances. Those rumors were fueled by her sudden retirement after the '88 Games -- where Ben Johnson, a sprinter with whom she had collaborated on training and technique, was stripped of his gold medal. She also bowed out of the sport just before mandatory random drug-testing was to begin for track athletes, Olympic historian David Wallechinsky notes in "The Complete Book of the Olympics."[18]
Pettigrew never failed a drug test. Michael Johnson, a legend in the sport of track and field, will lose his gold medal along with other clean members of the relay.[20] Antonio Pettigrew, twins Calvin and Alvin Harrison and Michael Johnson celebrate winning the 4x400m relay final on the podium at the Sydney 2000 Games.[2] Pettigrew, who was in the Sydney 2000 relay along with Michael Johnson and the Harrison brothers Alvin and Calvin, recently admitted to have used forbidden substances from 1997 onwards.[23]
Bad news for America, sure. The real victims, though: Pettigrew's relaymates -- Michael Johnson, Alvin Harrison and Calvin Harrison -- who also get stripped of their medals, which is going to leave an awful empty space on the teak mantle.[17]
Once he began taking the drugs, he was able to run 400 metres in under 43 seconds for the first time, he said. One of his teammates, Michael Johnson said in June that he was shocked by Pettigrew's admission and would return his medal.[1]
The IOC had previously tried to strip the relay team after it became known that Young tested positive before the Sydney Games. A decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport said the entire team should not be disqualified, and Pettigrew and the others were allowed to keep their medals. [11] The men's 4x400m relay was already due to be stripped of the medals a few years ago after Kevin Young, who ran in the heats, was punished over a doping offence. The ruling body IAAF was unable to retroactively strip an entire team of medals due to its rules at the time.[23] The IOC executive board disqualified the entire team, the fourth gold and sixth overall medal stripped from that U.S. track contingent in the past eight months for doping.[13]
Some IOC members have expressed a desire to leave the gold-medal slot from 2000 blank, and IOC President Jacques Rogge has said gold medals will only be awarded to athletes proven "clean." Thanou, who literally ran away from drug testers before the Athens Games (with her boyfriend, on a motorcycle), doesn't seem to fit that bill.[18] Confessed drug use by track-and-field athletes now has cost the U.S. four gold medals and six overall from Sydney.[21]
Jerome Young has been banned for life because of doping violations. Previously, Olympian Marion Jones lost her five medals from Sydney after confessing to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.[12] Nigeria finished second in the final, with Jamaica third and the Bahamas fourth. It was the sixth American medal from the Sydney Games lost to doping in the past eight months after disgraced sprinter Marion Jones was stripped of her five medals because of her doping confession in 2007.[9]
Davies said the IOC was still investigating the BALCO laboratory case after U.S. women's sprinter Marion Jones also admitted to doping in 2000, using forbidden substances supplied by the lab.[2]
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the news this morning after Antonio Pettigrew admitted in May to doping as far back as 1997.[19] BEIJING -- The International Olympic Committee inched forward in deciding what to do with medals won by athletes involved in the Balco doping scandal.[5]
As a result five athletes were banned from Beijing, including the favourite for the women's 800m-1500m double, Yelena Soboleav. Two Romanian middledistance runners have quit the sport after drug tests showed suspected use of EPO. In addition, sprinter Julien Dunkley was removed from the Jamaican squad, though he has not been charged with a doping offence, and swimmer Jessica Hardy withdrew yesterday from the U.S. team. The Russian athletes are challenging their results but have virtually no chance of competing at the Games. Their case came to light after an undercover operation over 18 months. Romanians Elena Antoci and Cristina Vasiloiu yesterday announced they were quitting, saying their lives had been unbearable since news broke of their suspected EPO use.[24] Davies also said the former 400m world champion would be ineligible in any capacity for the Beijing Olympic Games as competitor or as a coach or team official. Pettigrew, now 41 and retired, admitted in May that he had used performance-enhancing drugs for about six years.[22] Antonio Pettigrew had admitted using performance-enhancing drugs before, during and after the 2000 Sydney Olympics.[20]
Thanou, who finished second to Jones in the women's 100 meters in Sydney, pulled out of the 2004 Games in Athens after failing to report for drug tests and must clear a disciplinary hearing before competing in the Olympics again. She qualified for Beijing after serving a two-year suspension and is threatening action against the IOC unless she is allowed to compete.[21] Pettigrew acknowledged using the prohibited blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) and human growth hormone (HGH) beginning on or about January 1997 through 2003. The IOC have also disqualified Pettigrew from his seventh-place finish in the individual 400m in Sydney and have now banned him from attending the upcoming Beijing Games "in any capacity," including as a competitor, coach or technical official.[9]
The IOC faces a delicate challenge over the medals as the 100m second-place finisher is Katerina Thanou of Greece, who herself was caught in a massive doping scandal at the 2004 Games and whose eligibility to compete in Beijing is to be reviewed on Thursday by the IOC.[23] There was no immediate decision on redistributing the medals, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said at a news conference in Beijing, where the 2008 Games open Aug. 8.[21]
Now there is the matter of whether to reallocate the medals. In theory, that must be done within eight years after the Olympics, which means this Oct. 1. That deadline likely will pass with no action, because the IOC doesn't want to switch the standings, only to have more evidence from the Balco case taint athletes advanced in the standings.[5] THEN: Cawley was a four-time state champion at Farmington High. He won the NCAA title in 440-yard hurdles for USC in 1963 and set a world record in the 400-meter hurdles in 1964 before winning the gold medal that summer at the Tokyo Olympics. NOW: Cawley lives in Corona, Calif., where he operates a travel business, but he has been "mostly retired" the last five years.[25] THEN: Smoke, who attended U-M for four years but graduated from Michigan State, became the first Michigander to win a medal in kayak, earning Olympic bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Games. She also competed in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. She tried unsuccessfully to make the 1956 Olympic team in swimming. Her son, Jeff Smoke, was a 2004 Athens Olympian in kayak, and her former husband, Bill Smoke, competed at the 1964 Games.[25]
THEN: Diemer, a Michigan grad, won the bronze medal in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He also competed in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Games.[25] Ah, the tangled web the dopers weave. This is nothing new. Doping rumors have long swirled around winners of the Olympic sprints, both men's and women's. It's interesting to look at the scoreboard, and race times, for the past 40 years and 10 Olympics, and speculate about the clean (and dirty) spots on the record for the women's race, which, until Jones' disqualification, had been won five Olympics in a row by Americans.[18]
The 21-year-old had failed a drug test during trials last month. She tested positive for a stimulant in one test, but the second and third tests came back negative. Hardy, who competed in the 100-metre breast stroke, maintained her innocence but said she would withdraw in the best interests of her team. Two Romanian athletes announced Saturday that they were retiring. Elena Antoci and Cristina Vasiloiu, both runners in the 1,500-metre event, had been dropped from their country's Olympic team on suspicion of doping.[12] LOS ANGELES -- Swimmer Jessica Hardy will try to have her possible two-year suspension "reduced substantially" after a failed drug test cost her a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Friday the 21-year-old sprinter had withdrawn from the team nearly a month after she tested positive for a low level of clenbuterol, a prohibited anabolic agent, at the Olympic trials.[15] 'US swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for the prohibited substance clenbuterol at the U.S. Olympic trials on 4 July and has agreed to withdraw from the 2008 United States Olympic Team in the best interests of the team,' USADA said in a statement yesterday.[26] American swimmer Jessica Hardy withdrew from the U.S. Olympic swimming team four weeks after testing positive for a banned substance at the Olympic trials.[12]
Jones had participated in the women's 1,600-metre relay team. That team lost its medal as well. [12] The Nigerian team, who were second, could now be in line to receive the gold medal.[14] 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.[13] At the bookmaker the favorite to win most overall medals is China with odds 5/6, the Chinese are also favorite now to win the most gold medals at 2/5.[6]
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the decision to withdraw the men's 4x400m golds was as a result of the ongoing investigation into the scandal surrounding the San Francisco-based Balco laboratory, responsible for providing top athletes with drugs. [9] Communications director Giselle Davies said the reallocation of the medals, including Jones's, would be decided once an ongoing investigation into the San Francisco-based Balco laboratory, responsible for providing top athletes with drugs, was complete. "It forms part of a wider piece of work on the Balco case," Davies said, adding that issues such as medal reallocation arising from Balco would be resolved as one big case rather than on an individual basis.[19]
"We fully support the action taken today by the IOC," Darryl Seibel, spokesman for the USOC, said. "Athletes must understand that if they make the choice to cheat, there will be consequences and those consequences can be severe." In unrelated cases, Alvin and Calvin Harrison have both served suspensions from the sport for violating doping rules, and Young was barred for life. [7] Pettigrew's teammates, brothers Alvin and Calvin Harrison had already been suspended for using performance enhancing drugs.[14]
Pettigrew wasn't even the fastest of the four in the final (that'd be C. Harrison). Nigeria took silver in the relay, so -- while no announcement has been made -- it seems they'd get the posthumous gold.[17] The United States Anti-Doping Agency has annulled all Pettigrew's competitive results since January 1997. He has also voluntarily surrendered his 1997 and 1999 World Championship relay golds. The decision could also lead to the Americans losing their 4x400 metres world record of 2mins 54.20secs set in July 1998.[9]
United States Olympic committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said: "We support the action taken today by the IOC.[9] Australian International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and head of the press commission, Kevan Gosper, said a working party had been established to ensure journalists could report on Games-related issues within China.[2]
"There's been no change in the IOC's position.'' Olympic officials are today trawling through every website blocked in China to determine whether they should be accessible to journalists during the Games, following an international outcry.[2]
Hundreds of drug tests have so far been performed and 4,500 samples will be collected and tested during the event. The 15-member executive of the IOC board is meeting in Beijing this weekend, ahead of the Games opening on August 8. Davies said the board welcomed any moves by China to reopen internet access to media covering the Games, but insisted the IOC had not changed its position. "The IOC has always been very clear to say we would like to see the fullest access possible,'' she said.[2] The IOC is leery about handing the gold to Thanou. Just before the 2004 Athens Games, she missed a drug test -- as did fellow Greek runner Kostas Kenteris. They claimed they were injured in a motorcycle accident.[12]
BOCOG has already indicated it will test more athletes than ever before during the coming Games, in a bid to stamp out drug use in sport.[2] Ron Judd, an Olympics junkie and Seattle Times columnist who has covered Olympic sports since 1997, will use this space to serve up news and opinion on the Summer and Winter Games -- also inviting you to chime in on Planet Earth's biggest get-together.[18]
A total of 906 medals will be awarded in 28 sports encompassing 302 events. The majority of athletes will come home without hearing their country's national anthem being played for them. Winning medals -- as they'll soon discover -- is only part of the Olympic experience. The Free Press caught up with four former Olympians who were among the best of the best in their day.[25] The real impact comes for The Bahamas, who with the bump from fourth to bronze would move into a tie with Azerbaijan, Austria and Thailand (among others) for #50 in the 2000 national medal rankings. Yeah! They'll be parading in the streets of Nassau tonight. Apparently they have spies in Russia! The BBC reports Russian Olympians were repeatedly tipped off ahead of the arrival of IOC testers. How did the IOC figure it out? Because the dopers were always easily available for their random tests, whereas the honest athletes who have no idea what's coming are off living life.[17] I have No Intention of seeing anything the IOC has to offer. Strip them of medals after 8. get it. eight years.[5]
"Athletes who make the unacceptable choice to cheat should recognise that there will be consequences. Those consequences can be severe, including the loss of medals and results. "In other matters like this in the past we've worked with the IOC to make certain medals will be returned and we'll do so again."[9] Commitment to clean sport is more important. In this decision the IOC has done more to collar the cheats in sport than any anti-doping agency could hope to achieve. They sent a message to all clean athletes that doping will not be tolerated, and the people with the most to lose are the clean athletes, not the cheaters.[20]
The 8-year rule? The IOC simply will ignore it, as it often does other rules that it finds inconvenient. Interestingly, the IOC's 8-year rule might not even be valid in this case, because it came into effect after the 2000 Sydney Olympics.[5] Follow Canada's athletes as they aim to capture gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[1] Canada's best medal hopes - who they are and what they are competing in. Beijing is using the Games to boost its image.[12] Canada will bring 17 medals home but no gold hardware, an economist predicts.[12]
Pettigrew ran that race with Jerome Young, Tyree Washington and Johnson. He won his individual world title in Tokyo in 1991. [8]
SOURCES
1. IOC Strips Gold From 2000 U.S. Relay Team - AOL Sports Canada
2. IOC strips US of Sydney Golds | FoxSports - Fox Sports
3. IOC decision in the doping case of Mr. Antonio Pettigrew - The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
4. The Press Association: US relay team stripped of gold
5. Globetrotting - A worldly view of sports | Chicago Tribune | Blog
6. US relay team stripped of 2000 gold medals for doping
7. U.S. team stripped of 2000 gold medal - International Herald Tribune
8. Olympics: Antonio Pettigrew's US 4x400m relay team stripped of gold medal - Olympics - Telegraph
9. BBC SPORT | Olympics | Athletics | US stripped of Sydney relay gold
10. U.S. stripped of track relay gold in 2000 Games - 08/02/2008 - MiamiHerald.com
11. MyFox St. Louis | IOC Strips Gold Medals From 2000 Olympics U.S. Relay Team
12. CTV.ca | Three athletes to skip Beijing over doping
13. ABC News: IOC Strips Gold From 2000 US Relay Team
14. AFP: US men's 4x400 relay team stripped of Sydney gold
15. Olympics notes
16. IOC Strips Gold From 2000 U.S. Relay Team - Sports News Story - KMBC Kansas City
17. SportingNews.com - The Sporting Blog - United States at Negative-1 Gold Medals
18. Olympics | Another day, another medal stripped for USA Track and Field | Seattle Times Newspaper Blog
19. United States' men's 4x400m relay team stripped of Sydney gold medal - Telegraph
20. A few choice words for athletes | Olympics blog | Los Angeles Times
21. Bloomberg.com: U.S.
22. Beijing 2008 Olympics--People's Daily Online
23. US lose 4x400m relay gold from Sydney 2000 over doping : Sports
24. Blitz on the drug cheats - Elite athletes targeted in late crackdown by Olympic bosses | Mail Online
25. Olympic experience goes beyond winning medals | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
26. The Statesman
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