So the IOC wants to take away the medals from Marion Jones's relay teammantes-not happening if it was me

Nothing is going to happen to them. The IOC is not the police. They cannot force them to give back the medals. They will simply be retired athletes who possess medals that they did not earn. Everyone will know it. That's the problem with relay medals. ALL must be clean.

The San Francisco Giants, henceforth, will not be known as the National League Champions, from 2002, who played and lost to the Angels in the World Series, due to the proven steroid use by Barry Bonds. The new National League Champion from 2002 will from here on out be known as: ah, hell, I can't remember.

The idea isn't the medal that you possess. When someone asks who won the Olympic 4x100, their names won't appear. It may be time for asteriks- put the "new" winning team and the other clean athletes with an asterik that a cheater anchored their team.

It's not thier fault Jones cheated.

Let's remember that a Relay is a 4-person "team" event.

If Marion false starts, NOBODY gets a medal, even though the others did not false start.

If Marion drops the baton, NOBODY gets a medal, even though the others did not drop the stick.

If Marion gets the baton outside of the exchange zone. NOBODY gets a medal, even though the others did not exchange illegally.

If Marion is a drug cheat, NOBODY gets a medal, even though the others are clean.

As stated, the relays are "team" events, not "individual" events.

I see your point, but in this case I think the other runners simply didn't cheat. True, they may not have won if Jones was clean or didn't run, but they were not part of the cheating. I don't think they're going to take away all the wins from teams of baseball players who cheated. It ends up having a neagative effect on every party involved- athletes, governing bodies, and fans.

That's right; they did not cheat. However, their RELAY TEAM cheated, so how can you justify giving them a RELAY TEAM medal?????

None of the other guys false started, ran out of the exchange zone, dropped the stick, etc., but somebody on their team did, so they CANNOT get the win!

Giving back the medal is the smart move. It'll yield immense publicity and speaking engagements. Then the IOC will feel bad and give the medal back.

Seoul Man wrote:

Giving back the medal is the smart move. It'll yield immense publicity and speaking engagements. Then the IOC will feel bad and give the medal back.

Really did this work for the US men's 4x400 team or the UK 4x100 team?

They had no choice. If someone came out and said, "I RENOUNCE MY MEDAL AND CHEATING" they'd have a better chance at SI Sportsperson of the year than anyone else in Athletics.

With deference to Bill Simmons, this is the "Micheal Corleone" move. Sonny spends wasted time fighting while Fredo lets others make the decision for him.