Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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Pauline set to get GOLD By SHELDON LONGLEY ~ NG Sports Editor ~ slongley@nasguard.com: As early as tomorrow, Bahamian Pauline Davis-Thompson could know her status, as it pertains to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She could be the new Olympic Champion in the women's 200 meters (m) pending an International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision on the reallocation of Marion Jones' five medals. The IOC is set to meet at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday and Thursday. According to The Associated Press, the decision has already been made to redistribute the 200m gold medal to Davis-Thompson, but withhold the 100m gold from Greek runner Katerina Thanou because of another of drug scandal. Jones won gold medals in the 100 and 200m, and the 1,600m relay in Sydney, and captured bronze medals in the long jump and the 400m relay. An announcement is expected to be made on the reallocation after the two-day meeting this week. Davis-Thompson, who was elected to the International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) Council in August 2007, has always exercised the option of remaining silent on the matter because of the "conflict of interest" that it presents, but according to former council member Alpheus 'Hawk' Finlayson, the IOC's decision is "great news for The Bahamas". Davis-Thompson would now become the second Bahamian to win an individual Olympic gold medal on the track, joining Tonique Williams-Darling, who accomplished the fete in the women's 400m at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. "This is what we have been waiting to here. That would make Pauline the only other Bahamian to win an individual gold medal in the Olympics, other than Tonique," said Finlayson yesterday. "With the gold medal in the team event (4x100m), she would have two gold medals in the Olympics and no other Bahamian has ever done that. It is something that is overdue but the IOC had to make a decision as it pertains to when and where they would do it. Some people have even forgotten about it because two Olympics have passed since. It's still great news though," he added. In a joint meeting between the IOC executive board and IAAF council members earlier this year, a decision was made to speed up the process of determining whether or not to redistribute the medals. Jones, who is now out of prison following a six-month sentence last year for lying about doping and her role in a check-fraud scam, had been the first female athlete to win five medals at a single Olympics. As for Davis-Thompson, she is already the country's most decorated Olympic athlete with her gold in the 4x100m that year, a silver medal in the 4x100m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and her individual silver medal in the women's 200m in 2000, which is now about to be upgraded to gold. "I'm sure they are going to decide how to do it (redistribute the medal)," said Finlayson. "If the medal is sent to her here, hopefully we can do something better than what happened with the 4x400 men for the 2003 World Championships. It's something that deserves to be recognized and something that deserves to be celebrated. It puts another feather in the cap of Pauline and we are all pleased with that." The women's 200m final in 2000 saw two Bahamians going after the Olympic gold medal. Jones crossed the finish line in first place in 21.84 seconds, but was later disqualified as a result of her teary-eyed doping admission in 2007. She was consequently stripped of all five Olympic medals, including three gold medals. Davis-Thompson crossed the finish line in second place in 22.27 seconds, and Susanthika Jayasinghe from Sri Lanka crossed the finish line in third place in 22.28 seconds. Jamaican Beverly McDonald crossed the finish line in fourth place in 22.35 seconds, and Bahamian national record holder Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie crossed the finish line in fifth place in 22.37 seconds. Jayasinghe now stands to get the silver, McDonald the bronze, and Ferguson-McKenzie will be moved up to fourth. According to The Associated Press, the IOC executive board will also decide to hand out Jones' bronze medal in the long jump, but the relay medals are still up in the air, pending an appeal by Jones' relay teammates. Those relay teammates in both the 4x100m and 4x400m from the Sydney Olympics appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, arguing it was wrong to punish them for Jones' violations. The court is due to release its verdict by December 18, and the IOC will wait until then before deciding on the reallocation of the relay medals. After stripping Jones of all five medals, the IOC held off on its decision to redistribute the medals, primarily because of an ongoing investigation into the BALCO steroid scandal, and also because of those appeals. Over the past decade, a number of drug cheats in professional sports were unveiled as a result of the probe into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO). According to The Associated Press, IOC officials have decided to withhold the 100m gold medal from silver medalist Thanou, as a result of Thanou being involved in a doping scandal which rocked the 2004 Athens Games. She and fellow Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris missed mandatory drug tests a day before the opening ceremony of those games, claiming they were injured in a motorcycle accident which they were later accused of faking. They were later banned for two years by the IAAF. While the gold medal will remain vacant, third-place finisher Tanya Lawrence of Jamaica will get the silver and Merlene Ottey, who also represented Jamaica that year, will move up from fourth to the bronze medal spot. Thanou would keep her silver, meaning Lawrence would get a duplicate medal. Jamaica took silver behind the United States in the 4x400m relay that year. Russia was third and Nigeria finished fourth. In the 4x100m, France was fourth behind the United States. Concerning new 200m gold medalist Davis-Thompson, she has never been involved in a doping scandal nor accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs, and is reportedly eagerly awaiting the decision of reallocating the medals by the IOC.
Tuesday December 08, 2009 |
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