Seven of Marion Jones's sprint-relay teammates ordered to return the medals they won at the Sydney Olympics are raising money to legally challenge the International Olympic Committee's ruling.

Jones last year handed back the five medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Games after confessing that she used steroids.

The IOC on April 10 ruled that Jones's relay teammates on the U.S. team also would have to return their 1,600-meter gold medals and 400-meter bronze medals.

LaTasha Colander-Clark, one of the runners stripped of the medals, said in a statement that the IOC took the medals from innocent athletes to "divert attention from the problems plaguing" this year's Olympics in Beijing.

Colander-Clark, Andrea Anderson, Torri Edwards, Monique Hennagan, Chryste Gaines, Jearl Miles-Clark and Passion Richardson have formed a fund to pay for legal expenses to challenge the IOC's decision.

A formal appeal must be filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, by May 1.

"The rules are clear that the IOC cannot take our medals," Hennagan said in a statement. "However, the cost of fighting the IOC with all of its resources and paying for the legal proceedings before the court in Switzerland is more than our combined resources. We are asking our friends and families and those in the public to help us defend not only our medals, but the rights of all athletes who share the Olympic dream."

The runners said the IOC refused to hear their pleas even though the Olympic Charter, the Games' bylaws, requires the committee to hold fair hearings before taking action to disqualify athletes or strip them of medals.

"We understand they were embarrassed and did not want to let people see what they were doing, but it is unbelievable that the IOC decided to take medals from innocent athletes without any hearing or any of the protections afforded to athletes who have committed an offense," said Richardson, now an academic adviser at the University of Kentucky.