By Christopher Galakoutis
Saturday, February 12 2011 6:00:07 AM
The Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, currently embroiled in a criminal matter inside an Athens courtroom, is in possession of the Sydney 100m gold medal that was stripped from the American sprinter Marion Jones.
HellenicAthletes.com has learned that Ms. Thanou received the medal in a confidential agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) shortly before Christmas last year.
The IOC was not expected to make any formal announcement, as it is seeking to not publicize or make official the news that it had seen fit to reverse its 2009 decision to leave the gold medal spot vacant rather than awarding the top prize from one of the marquee events of any Olympic Games to the controversial Greek athlete.
It is understood Ms. Thanou is not entirely happy with this outcome but is unwilling to pursue any further action.
It is also unclear given the circumstances whether the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) might now remove the asterisk by Ms. Thanou’s name (for not being awarded the gold medal) in the official results of the Sydney 100m race, where she is listed as the winner. (See Results table)
The IAAF is charged …