Olympic Gold Medalist's Awards Revoked

Olympic champion athlete, Marion Jones, was officially disqualified today from all contests since Sept. 1, 2000 after admitting to taking banned drugs last month, reports Reuters.

The governing council of the International Association of Athletics Federation ruled that all Jones' results be annulled following her confession to taking the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone before the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

At the 2000 Games, Jones won gold medals in four relay races and a bronze in the long jump. Nick Davies, a spokesman for the IAAF, said the council will ask the International Olympic Committee to disqualify the relay team members as well.

The council did not, though, recommend that the Gold be given to the 100 meters relay Silver medalist, the controversial Greek Katerina Thanou. They said that they will be sending the IOC any information on Thanou that they have.

Thanou was suspended for two years after missing three dope tests, the last on the evening prior to the 2004 Athens Games. Davies says, "We can't decide not to give her the medal. We will inform them of the decision but it's really up to the IOC."

The U.S. Olympic Committee supports the IAAF decision and has urged the American relay members to give up their medals. The IAAF has also requested that Jones return all prize money awarded since September 2000, an estimated $700,000.

Jones has pleaded guilty to two counts of providing false statements to federal investigators, and will be sentenced in January. She formally retired from athletics and declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

If Jones does decide to return to the track, she would be barred from competing until all the money has been returned.