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Melanie
10-10-2007, 05:47 PM
Should Marion Jones' relay mates from the 2000 Olympics have to give back their medals? :rings:

Donald A
10-10-2007, 06:15 PM
That is a tough one. If they truly didn't know it hardly seems fair to take the medals from teammates. My wife had a good idea. Let them keep the medals and award gold medals to the silver and so forth. It is just an unfortuante situation.

Ian
10-10-2007, 06:49 PM
Unless it can be definitively proved that they knew she was cheating, then I say no.

Yes, they may have benefitted from her cheating, but if they truly didn't know then I think they should retain their medals.

WDWfanatic742
10-10-2007, 09:28 PM
I wouldn't take away their medals. They had a part in the race as well.

PirateLover
10-11-2007, 12:29 AM
Unless it can be definitively proved that they knew she was cheating, then I say no.

Yes, they may have benefitted from her cheating, but if they truly didn't know then I think they should retain their medals.
I agree. I don't think it's fair to punish the whole team for one person's tragic mistake. However, since you cannot deny she had a huge impact on their ability to win, I wouldn't have problems with them bumping the other teams up (4th to bronze, bronze to silver, silver to gold) but I do not think the other women should be stripped of their medals. They will just have to share.

This whole thing really upset me to be honest. :(

Advnt05
10-11-2007, 11:16 AM
I'm on the other side. I think they should take away the entire teams medals. The relay is a team sport often decided by seconds. If one of your members cheated and got an unfair advantage, than the whole team benefited. They might not have one without that edge. It's not fair for the 2, 3, and 4th place teams to not get their medal because you did not know your team mate cheated. She admited to it and that's the breaks. Stinks for the other women but it's a matter of team integrity. How could you keep a medal in clear conscience that you might not have won otherwise? Can you really say you earned it when you might not have if the race was run on an even playing field?

An analogy is the Tour de France. When a rider dopes and is caught, the Team drops from the Tour (ususally). It's about honor and insinuation. Now the World can say, "If she doped, then the other team mates probablly did too". That's what we used to say about the Russians and the Chinese during the Olympics.

murphy1
10-11-2007, 03:48 PM
That's a tough one. I used to run track, field and X Country and would be so mad if this happened to a teammate of mine if I were on this level, but they know in their hearts if they were true to their sport. I am so disappointed in all of these people. I really liked her and she let people down. They can't fault teammates who did or knew nothing. I hope none of them did anything!

medic9016
10-11-2007, 06:02 PM
I agree with taking them away, after all it was a team relay. I would bet her coach knew about the drugs. Another black eye for American sports on the international level.

kakn7294
10-12-2007, 01:28 AM
Only if they knew she was doping. If they knew and kept quiet, they cheated the same as she did. However, if they really didn't know, it's unfair to them to take away their medals, especially after all this time. It would be awfully difficult to prove whether or not they knew.

Melanie
10-12-2007, 02:49 AM
I think I read the other day that two of the ladies on one of the relay teams Jones was on have since been caught doping as well, so I think I'm safe saying they probably knew and were possibly doping themselves at the time. :unsure:

The whole thing is really, really unfortunate.

The Reservoir Dog
10-12-2007, 04:48 AM
Take the medals away. Jones cheated and her team benefitted. It's unfortunate for them but they have to show that this sort of behaviour cannot be condoned. She should have to be big enough to face the wrath of her team mates.

If that was me then I wouldn't want my medal.

murphy1
10-12-2007, 09:32 AM
I think I read the other day that two of the ladies on one of the relay teams Jones was on have since been caught doping as well, so I think I'm safe saying they probably knew and were possibly doping themselves at the time. :unsure:

The whole thing is really, really unfortunate.


Mel, I was thinking this after I posted, how terrible is this!! I couldn't really be very happy or proud of myself as a person. Honestly, the Olympics seem more about cashing in on your medal nowadays than the true sport of it in many cases.