Will Jones Lose Medals? She Wouldn't Be the First

Doping allegations have brought down long list of athletes.

ByABC News
January 8, 2009, 1:31 AM

Oct. 6, 2007 — -- In finally admitting to long-rumored steroid use and conceding, "I have let [my family] down, I have let my country down and I have let myself down," Olympic sprinter Marion Jones stands to join a long list of athletes who have given up their medals after scandals.

American sprinters, in particular, seem to have trouble adhering to the no-drugs rule, especially when gold is on the line.

In 2004, former world champion sprinter Kelli White told ABC News Nightline she thought she was taking flaxseed oil given to her by controversial substance-provider-to-the-stars Victor Conte. As it turned out, she was taking steroids and was forced to return every medal she'd won over the prior four years.

In 2005, Jerome Young was stripped of his relay gold medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics for a positive drug test in 1999.

Similarly, American sprinter Dennis Mitchell, a member of the U.S. team that won the 4x100 meter relay in Barcelona in 1992, tested positive for testosterone in 1998 and lost his medal. He consistently blamed his elevated testosterone level on having had five beers and sex with his wife four times the night before the race.

After Jones vehemently denied any involvement with performance-enhancing drugs for years, she now admits she used drugs from September 2000 to July 2001, before and after the Sydney Olympic games.

Under statute of limitations rules, the IOC and other sports bodies can go back eight years to strip medals and nullify results. In Jones' case, that would include the 2000 Olympics, where she won gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600 relay and bronze in the long jump and 400 relay.

The standings would normally be readjusted, with the second-place finisher moving up to gold, third to silver and fourth to bronze.

Standing to inherit Jones' gold medal in the 100 would be Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, who finished second in Sydney in 11.12 seconds. Interestingly, Thanoe herself has been at the center of a major doping scandal. She failed to show up for drugs tests on the eve of the 2004 Athens Olympics. She pulled out of the games and was later suspended for two years.