Marion Jones' relay partners appeal to CAS

[May 02, 2008]  BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) -- Seven of Marion Jones' relay partners filed an appeal Thursday with the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking to retain their 2000 Olympic medals.

Jones had her medals stripped last year after admitting to doping during the Sydney Games. Last month, the International Olympic Committee disqualified her relay partners, conceding none of the athletes broke any rules.

Jones teamed with Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Clark and Andrea Anderson to win gold in the 1,600-meter relay, and with Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson to win the bronze in the 400.

Perry is not a part of the case.

The runners had refused to give up their medals, saying it would be wrong to punish them for Jones' violations.

"These young women athletes have done nothing wrong and any attempt to alter their results or revoke their medals violates the Olympic Charter and all the rules that were in effect in 2000, as well as all internationally accepted concepts of due process and natural justice," said their attorney, Mark Levinstein.

Last week, Levinstein announced the women were seeking funding for their defense through the newly created Innocent Olympic Athletes' Legal Defense Fund. He said Thursday they have not raised significant funds, but he has agreed to go forward with their defense.

Levinstein said he wasn't sure what the defense would cost. He said defending the relay partners of Jerome Young, who had his 2000 gold medal stripped for a positive doping test a year before the games, cost about $190,000.

"I just can't leave them," Levinstein said. "These are good people who didn't do anything wrong."

A statement Levinstein sent Thursday said the U.S. Olympic Committee has refused to support the women or join them in their appeal.

USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel told The Associated Press the USOC has offered to bankroll the athletes' defense if they used one of three attorneys the federation was willing to provide. One of the attorneys is Maurice Suh, who is currently defending Floyd Landis and Justin Gatlin in their doping cases in front of CAS.

Levinstein said there were a number of reasons the athletes couldn't accept the USOC offer, including a clause in the USOC offer that prohibited the attorneys from saying anything negative about the federation in the proceeding.

[Associated Press; By EDDIE PELLS]

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