LONDON, July 21: Five years after the Sydney Games, American Michael Johnson was told by a court in Switzerland on Thursday that he could keep the last of his five Olympic gold medals. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal by U.S. athletics officials to end a lengthy battle over the golds won by Johnson’s squad in the 4x400 metres relay in 2000.

Athletics’ world ruling body, the IAAF, had recommended to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the American squad be stripped of their medals because of a doping violation by squad member Jerome Young in 1999.

Thursday’s decision means Johnson and four other members keep their gold medals from the event but the court recommended that Young, subsequently banned for life for another doping offence, should lose his.

The IAAF said it was extremely disappointed with the CAS decision which it regretted but would accept as final and binding. American Olympic and athletics officials welcomed the ruling.

The court said IAAF rules in force at the time of the Sydney Games did not allow for a whole team to be disqualified because of the actions of one of its members.—Reuters