All That Glitters Isn’t Tainted Gold Is It?

February 4, 2010

I just happen to run across this post from Steriod Nation (December Post) regarding the turning in of medals. Thought you might be interested in seeing how cheating is handled or not..You decide. This story brings up a lot of questions that haven’t been answered yet.

The New York Times says that Marion Jones’s tainted gold medals from Sydney will in part be distributed and in part will rot in purgatory.

Greece’s Katerina Thanou will not be elevated to gold, after her second place finish in 2000 in Australia. Obviously Thanou’s behavior in her native Greece during the 2004 Olympics left a bad taste in the IOC’s mouth. Thus Thanou, who has never tested positive for steroids but whose behavior reeks of a PED cover up, will be ignored in the record books. Interesting message from the IOC, and not entirely consistent with logic. (but check out Thanou’s photo and one sees why she might fit in better with the men’s 100M; those are impressive traps for a female)

However in the 200M, the Jones gold wil be awarded to that 2nd place finisher.

The International Olympic Committee redistributed the medals won by the disgraced sprinter Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics on Wednesday, but it refused to award her gold medal in the 100 meters to Katerina Thanou of Greece, who was barred from the 2004 Games because of a missed drug test.

Jones surrendered the medals when she admitted in 2007 to lying to federal investigators about performance-enhancing drug use. Normally, the other competitors are moved up in order when medals are surrendered, but Thanou’s later drug testing issues prompted the committee to leave the top spot in the 100 meters vacant. In record books, Thanou and Tanya Lawrence of Jamaica will be listed as silver medalists and Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, who finished fourth in the race, will hold the bronze.

Thanou did not fail a drug test, but she and her teammate Kostas Kenteris missed drug tests before the 2004 Games in Athens and were kept from competing by Greek Olympic officials after it was determined they had staged a motorcycle crash to cover up..

Read the entire post here