December 11, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1428

LAUSANNE, Dec 10: The International Olympic Committee delayed a decision to reallocate medals won by Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics because more athletes may be involved in the BALCO doping affair, an IOC official said on Monday.

The IOC executive board meeting that started on Monday was set to strip Jones’s five medals, including three golds, after the U.S. sprinter confessed in October to taking banned substances.

It will further investigate the case for fear that more Olympic athletes, who could be upgraded, may be involved in the BALCO affair.

Several prominent athletes have been embroiled in the doping scandal involving the San Francisco-based BALCO laboratory, the latest being baseball player Barry Bonds who has been charged with perjury over alleged drugs use.

Jones faces potential jail time for lying to federal agents.

“We feel that some names of athletes may still appear (in the BALCO case),” disciplinary commission member Denis Oswald told reporters. “We know there were more athletes-clients.

“We want to know more about the BALCO case and be sure that other athletes who may be positively affected (by the upgrading) are not involved in this.”

Asked whether the board would rule this week on the redistribution of the medals Jones had won in Sydney, he said: “No, for the time being.” He said a decision on that was “a matter of months.”

Among those standing to benefit from upgrading is Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, who won silver in 2000 but was suspended for two years in 2004 after missing a doping test on the eve of the Athens Olympics.

Oswald said the IOC needed more information on the BALCO affair before upgrading athletes. Asked whether he was referring to Thanou, Oswald said: “Yes.”

—Reuters