Posted at 7:37 a.m., Monday, October 15, 2007
Olympics: IOC head says Jones admission a good thing
Associated Press
PARIS -- IOC president Jacques Rogge called Marion Jones' guilty plea a "good thing" for international sports because it shows drug cheats eventually get caught.
Rogge also said in today's edition of the French newspaper Le Monde that the IOC was waiting for track and field's governing body to rule on Jones' results from the 2000 Sydney Olympics before deciding how to reallocate the medals. Jones won golds in the 100 and 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay, and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay.
She pleaded guilty this month to lying to federal investigators in 2003 when she denied using banned drugs. She returned the five medals from the Sydney Games.
"It is a good thing every time we catch an athlete, even if it is always, in itself, a little disappointing," Rogge told Le Monde. "As a lover of sports, it hurts me. But as a leader, I say it is a good thing."
Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, who finished second behind Jones in the 100, stands to move up to the gold medal, even though she was suspended for two years after missing doping tests before the 2004 Athens Olympics. Jones' American relay teammates could also lose their medals.
"The IAAF must judge whether it's only a problem with an individual or if there is also an effect on the 4x100 and 4x400 relays," Rogge said. "For Katerina Thanou, we will also wait for the advice of the IAAF and we will examine the case of each athlete individually.
"There have been lots of indignant comments," he added, referring to complaints that Thanou does not deserve the gold. "We will look at this calmly. We take the sensibilities into account but we must also deliver justice."
Rogge noted that the IOC plans to introduce a rule in which any athlete suspended more than six months for doping would be banned from the subsequent Olympics. He said the rule would take effect for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver if it receives approval at the next IOC general assembly in Beijing on the eve of the 2008 Summer Games.
Rogge reiterated that the IOC could delay or postpone events in Beijing if the city's notorious air pollution gets too bad, and said human rights and other political pressure groups should not expect the IOC to change Chinese politics.
"Don't ask the IOC to succeed where generations of heads of state or government who go to Beijing with offers of planes, trains or industry succeed better than us," he said. Pressure groups "are trying to put responsibility on the IOC that the IOC can't assume."
