16:06 GMT, Monday, 31 March 2008 17:06 UK
THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS DAY JOKE
FOLKS, AS YOU ALL KNOW AND RESPECT, THE GENERAL TOPIC IS OFF-LIMITS ON THIS BOARD SO PLEASE BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL IN HOW YOU POST IF CHOOSING TO DO SO … kk
Thanou handed Jones’s world medal
By Simon Austin
Controversial Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou has been awarded Marion Jones’ 100m silver medal from the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton.
The IAAF annulled all the medals Jones had won since September 2000 (edit).
Athletics’ governing body was reluctant to award the silver to Thanou, who was suspended after missing three drugs tests on the eve of the 2004 Olympics.
Yet IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said: “Legally, we had no other choice.”
He added: “There was no evidence of Thanou committing any doping offence during the period in question, which leaves us with no alternative but to award the medal to her.”
The International Olympic Committee is yet to decide how to reallocate Jones’ five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
But the organisation has indicated it will follow the lead of the IAAF in making its decision.
This would seem to suggest that Thanou, who finished second behind Jones in the 100m in Sydney, will now be awarded the gold.
Thanou’s lawyer, Gregory Ioannidis, welcomed the IAAF’s decision.
He told BBC Sport: “This is indeed good news. It is a fair and just decision which equally respects the rights of the individual athlete and of the sport.”
However Ioannidis told BBC Sport last December that his client could sue the IOC if she was not awarded the Sydney gold.
Thanou and training partner Kostas Kenteris still face criminal charges of perjury and falsifying evidence in Greece after claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash on the eve of the Games.
Ukraine’s Zhanna Block claimed the gold medal at the 2001 Worlds in Edmonton.
