Greek Sprinter to be Barred from Sydney Gold

In the women's 100m in Sydney, Marion Jones (c) won gold, Katerina Thanou (r) won silver, and Tanya Lawrence (l) won bronze. (Getty Images) (ATR) With the IOC poised to reallocate medals from the drugs-marred performances by Marion Jonesatthe Sydney Olympics, the 100m gold medal once held by sprinter Marion Jones apparently will not go to second place finisher Katerina Thanou.

The IOC Executive Board begins two days of meetings in Lausanne Wednesday with the reallocation of medals from the Sydney race one of the agenda items.

Reuters reports a senior IOC official says that silver medalist Thanou will not move up in the standings and that the gold medal will not be re-awarded.

Jones pleaded guilty to lying to U.S. investigators about her drug use during the Sydney Olympics and was stripped of her medals in 2007. Jones served a 16-month jail sentence.

While Thanou ran a clean race in Sydney, she became enmeshed in notoriety four years later at the Athens Olympics. Thanou missed drugs tests ahead of the Games and was suspended by the IAAF and nearly was expelled from Athens by the IOC, prevented when The IOC Executive Board meets at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne this week. (ATR) she handed over her credentials before the IOC could act. She was banned from the Beijing Olympics.

Under the re-allocation of other medals won by Jones in Athens, Pauline Davis-Thompson of Bahamas will be given the gold in the 200m and Russia’s Tatyana Kotova will step up to the bronze in the long jump.

Written by Ed Hula.