Jones forced to hand back Olympic medals.
October 9th 2007 23:26
The IOC has announced that disgraced sprinter Marion Jones has handed back the 5 medals she won in the Sydney Olympic Games.
Members of the International Olympic Committee have yet to make a decision on who to award the gold medal to as the silver medallist from the 2000 Games, Katrina Thanou is currently standing trial in her native Greece for her part in a performance enhancing drugs related scandal and has also served a two year doping suspension.
If Thanou is overlooked then the Gold could end up in the hands of Jamaican Tanya Lawrence who finished third 7 years ago but there is a catch – a silver medal will be bestowed upon the 4th place woman, one Marlene Ottey who escaped a drugs ban the previous year on a technicality.
It is all too much for Victor Conte who believes that the now disqualified Jones should be able to keep all her medals.
Speaking to the BBC he said, "She shouldn't have her medals taken away but the anti-doping procedures are basically inept."
“They (drugs tests) are very easy to beat and there are many Olympic records and world records and Olympic gold medals that have been won that, in my opinion, were clearly won by athletes who were using performance-enhancing substances."
Conte is at the heard of the BALCO scandal that rocked the sport just a few years ago when it emerged that he had been supplying the world’s best athletes with performance enhancing drugs – THG being one of them.
Since spending time in jail for his crimes Conte has been very vocal about Jones’ up until now alleged drug use,
"There was one point when I did meet in person with her and provided her with a growth hormone injector and instructed her how to use it.
"She did the injection in the quadriceps with me sitting right there next to her.”
IAAF supremo Lamine Diack labelled Jones’ “as one of the biggest frauds in sporting history” but was silent on the fact that Jones’ had successfully avoided failing a test for so long leaving the world wondering just how many of the worlds best have a pharmaceutical edge.
Members of the International Olympic Committee have yet to make a decision on who to award the gold medal to as the silver medallist from the 2000 Games, Katrina Thanou is currently standing trial in her native Greece for her part in a performance enhancing drugs related scandal and has also served a two year doping suspension.
If Thanou is overlooked then the Gold could end up in the hands of Jamaican Tanya Lawrence who finished third 7 years ago but there is a catch – a silver medal will be bestowed upon the 4th place woman, one Marlene Ottey who escaped a drugs ban the previous year on a technicality.
It is all too much for Victor Conte who believes that the now disqualified Jones should be able to keep all her medals.
Speaking to the BBC he said, "She shouldn't have her medals taken away but the anti-doping procedures are basically inept."
“They (drugs tests) are very easy to beat and there are many Olympic records and world records and Olympic gold medals that have been won that, in my opinion, were clearly won by athletes who were using performance-enhancing substances."
Conte is at the heard of the BALCO scandal that rocked the sport just a few years ago when it emerged that he had been supplying the world’s best athletes with performance enhancing drugs – THG being one of them.
Since spending time in jail for his crimes Conte has been very vocal about Jones’ up until now alleged drug use,
"There was one point when I did meet in person with her and provided her with a growth hormone injector and instructed her how to use it.
"She did the injection in the quadriceps with me sitting right there next to her.”
IAAF supremo Lamine Diack labelled Jones’ “as one of the biggest frauds in sporting history” but was silent on the fact that Jones’ had successfully avoided failing a test for so long leaving the world wondering just how many of the worlds best have a pharmaceutical edge.
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Probably all of the top ones I would guess.
And re-awarding the medals is a nightmare for them, with the Greek contestant and whatnot...it is kind of amusing in a black way, that maybe those who came last are the ones who deserved the medals!
I do not agree however, that Jones should keep her medals, that is patently ludicrous.
However, what I do think should happen is, of all the samples taken, one is kept locked up and stored under a coded reference so that later on, when new discoveries are made, they can go back and check them.
However, it seems the general tone of it all is, the sports bodies and the more powerful countries have such an influence on the testing/governing bodies etc, that they will remain almost impotent in their efforts to catch cheats, and those caught by testing will mostly come from the poorer nations who do not have access to the newer undetectable drugs.
Now that I have read this blog, it makes me think a little deeper about the issue, and I believe all the blame really should not be left at the athlete's doorstep, but also at their sports body and government.
So sad really...there seems no where left in society that corruption has not infiltrated, and with tacit government approval.
cheers
fog
Comment by LukeS
Athletics News
re: your idea that a sample should be kept back and tested when new, more sophisticated testing is available is actually the case, WADA does practice this.
However it is in fact very dicey territory legally as i will go into in the very near future.
Cheers!
p.s you might want to check out the blog entry "between a rock and a hard place". You can find it here