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IOC praises Johnson for returning medal

BEIJING: The International Olympic Committee has lauded Michael Johnson for voluntarily returning his gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics following the admission of doping by U.S. teammate Antonio Pettigrew.

The 200 and 400 metres world record holder had already said he would hand it back after team member Antonio Pettigrew admitted earlier this year to doping at the time.

Johnson’s action came just three days after the team were officially stripped of the title by the IOC.

“Johnson wrote to us to say he considered the medal was not won honestly and he was returning it,” said International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Thomas Bach, himself an Olympic gold medallist, in fencing, back in 1976.

Bach, head of the committee’s legal commission, said Johnson also sent a “very fair and very strong statement that he constitutes this medal as being unfairly won.

“This is a really good expression of fair play,” Bach said. “We appreciate this very much.”

Pettigrew has also returned his medal. The other squad members were twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison, Jerome Young and Angelo Taylor.

As in the case of disgraced former U.S. track queen Marion Jones, who was stripped of her five Sydney medals last December, the relay medal has not been redistributed. — Agencies

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