IOC strips US of Sydney Golds

IOC strips US of Sydney Golds

THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) today turned up the heat on drugs cheats less than a week before the Beijing Games, stripping the controversial US 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.

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the executive had not yet discussed whether medals would be reallocated for the race, in which


Australia finished eighth.

"It was decided that the entire US 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.

"The medals will be brought back to the IOC through the United States Olympic Committee.''

Davies said the IOC was still investigating the BALCO laboratory case after US women's sprinter Marion Jones also admitted to doping in 2000, using forbidden substances supplied by the lab.

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.

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.

"Let me stress (that) we would like to see the greatest degree of openness possible so you can do your job and we can only continue to encourage for that to happen.

"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.

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.

Meanwhile, the IOC today donated $US4 million ($A4.25 million) towards victims of the earthquake affected area of Sichuan during a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People.

The IOC has already donated $US1 million ($A1.06 million) towards the immediate disaster relief work.

Davies said today's donation was matched by the Beijing Organising Committee (BOCOG) and the Chinese Olympic Committee, who each gave $US2 million ($A2.13 million).

The money will be used to help rebuild sporting infrastructure in the Sichuan region.