IOC strips Jones' U.S. relay teammates of Olympic medals

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee on Thursday stripped the medals of Marion Jones' U.S. relay teammates at the 2000 Olympics because of her doping case.

The disgraced U.S. sprinter won 4x100m gold and 4x400m bronze in Syndey 2000 and had already lost her individual medals from the Games. She is serving a six-month jail sentence for lying about steroid use and has retired from the sport.

The IOC executive board decided that Jones's teammates would lose their medals because "they were part of the team", even though they are innocent of doping at the 2000 games, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies told reporters.

Jones was stripped of her five medals, including golds in the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays after pleading guilty to two counts of lying to federal investigators about performance-enhancing drug use and check fraud in October.

Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson were on the 1,600 relay. The 400 relay had Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson. The runners can appeal the decision.