The International Olympic Committee stripped four athletes of their medals from the 2004 Athens Olympic games on Wednesday, after retested samples came back positive for steroids.
According to the Associated Press, four track and field athletes from eastern Europe were required to give their medals back, including shot put gold medalist Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine. The other athletes to be stripped were hammer throw silver medalist Ivan Tskikhan of Belarus and two bronze medalists -- women's shot putter Svetlana Krivelyova of Russia and discus thrower Irina Yatchenko of Belarus.
According to the New York Times,
"Doping protocols allow for officials to store samples for eight years and retest them for substances they may not have been able to detect at the time the sample was taken. When Bilonog's sample was analyzed in 2004 at the Olympics, the results were negative, doping officials said. Eight years later, with new tests at their disposal, officials decided to re-examine about 100 samples from the Athens Games, focusing on certain sports and medalists."
The IOC announced last month that they would hold hearings for the athletes after their samples came back positive in retesting. The hearing would confirm whether the medals should be returned and the athletes disqualified.
According to the Associated Press, "Bilonog and Krivelyova tested positive for oxandrolone, while the samples from Tsikhan and Yatchenko were positive for methandienone."
The disqualification of Bilonog is another black mark on the Athens games, since women's champion Irina Korzhanenko of Russia tested positive for stanozolol back in 2004 and also lost her medal.
The news helps solidify the legacy that the Athens games were one of the dirtiest in recent memory. According to the Associated Press, "the Athens Games produced a record 26 doping cases, more than double the previous Olympic high of 12 in Los Angeles in 1984. Six medalists, including two gold winners, were caught at the time."
The case of a fifth athlete, bronze medal weightlifter Oleg Perepechenov of Russia, remains pending by the IOC and will be ruled on later.
"Track and field's world governing body now must decide whether to officially alter the standings in light of the penalties or merely void the positions of the offending athletes," an I.O.C. spokesman said, according to the New York Times.
The United States benefited from the IOC decision on Wednesday, as shot-putter Adam Nelson could be awarded the gold medal in the future after Bilonog tested positive.
"Additional analyses were performed with analytical methods which were not available in 2004," the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday in a statement.
Nelson had previously won the silver medal at the games, but stands in position to get the gold just 3,000 days after he participated in the event.
"I'm still processing this one, but the 2004 Olympics were a really special moment for me," Nelson, 37, said to the New York Times. "My wife was there, a bunch of my friends from college, my family. We competed at the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The downside of this is I feel like our country was robbed of a medal at the relevant time. One of the biggest parts of an Olympic career is when you hear your anthem and see your flag when you stand on that podium. That's something I can never replace."
The IOC also announced that they have delayed a decision on whether or not to revoke Lance Armstrong's bronze in the cycling road time trial from the 2000 Sydney Games.
"The IOC today will not move," IOC president Jacques Rogge said at a news conference following a two-day board meeting in Lausanne, according to the Associated Press. "We need to have the situation whereby the UCI notifies officially Mr. Armstrong of the fact that he will be disqualified, declared ineligible and that he should hand over his medal."
The group cited procedural issues for the delay and said that they still need to wait for the UCI, the cycling's governing body, to formally tell Armstrong about the loss of his past results due to doping.
"This is a legal obligation not for the IOC but for the International Cycling Union. When he will be notified, Mr. Armstrong will have 21 days to launch an appeal if he wishes. It is only after this period of 21 days that the IOC can legally take action," Rogge said.
Armstrong won the bronze medal 12 years ago, but has since fallen from grace after it was revealed in a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that he has been a serial doper in his career and operated a complicated scheme while winning seven Tour de France titles.
Armstrong finished third in the Sydney Games behind gold medal winner Vyacheslav Ekimov of Russia and Jan Ullrich of Germany.
"Athletes who cheat by using doping substances must understand that just because they get away with it one day, there is a very good chance that they will be caught in the future," WADA President John Fahey said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "The retesting and subsequent decisions of the IOC are proof of that."
The IOC statement show that the group is looking to remove Armstrong from the record books, much like the International Cycling Union did after stripping him of his Tour de France titles.
"Absolutely," IOC vice president Craig Reedie of Britain told The Associated Press. "If the UCI have the ability to remove all these titles, we should have the ability to remove a bronze medal. Once they go through their procedures, then we'll go through ours."
