Posted: July 21, 2005

Athletics: CAS Rules Results Of The Men’s 4X400M At The Sydney Games Shall Stand

The US 4X400M Relay Team Shall Not Be Disqualified

Lausanne, 21 July 2005– The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeal filed by the US athletes Michael Johnson, Antonio Pettigrew, Angelo Taylor, Alvin Harrison and Calvin Harrison that they had filed together with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) against the decision of the IAAF Council made on 18 July 2004 to annul the results of the US men’s 4x400m Relay Team at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

The gold medal awarded to the US 4x400m Team in Sydney had been called into question by the IAAF further to a CAS decision of 28 June 2004 imposing a two-year period of ineligibility (from 26 June 1999 to 25 June 2001) on a member of the US Team, Jerome Young. As a consequence of Jerome Young’s ineligibility to have competed at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, the IAAF Council decided on 18 July 2004 that the results of the US Team be annulled and that the final rankings be revised accordingly. However, the issue of the medals allocation had still to be submitted to the IOC Executive Board.

The IAAF decision was challenged before CAS by the USOC and by the athletes Johnson, Pettigrew, Taylor, A. Harrison and C. Harrison. The matter was submitted to a CAS Panel composed of three arbitrators : Mr Kaj Hobér, Sweden (President), Messrs Yves Fortier, Canada and David Williams, New Zealand (arbitrators). A hearing was held in the presence of the parties’ representatives on 10 May 2005.

The CAS Panel noted that the IAAF Rules in force at the time of the Sydney Games did not provide for the annulment of results obtained by a team, when a member of that team was found later to have been ineligible to compete at the time of the event. The arbitrators considered that the interpretation made by the IAAF of the rules in force in 2000 was not correct.

In conclusion, the Panel decided that on the basis of the IAAF Rules applicable at the time of the Sydney Games, the results of the men’s 4x400m Relay event at the Sydney Games should not be amended and that only Jerome Young in the US Team should be stripped of his gold medal.

The CAS Panel also emphasised that the current IAAF Rules (2004-2005 Edition) provide expressly for what happens when an athlete who is a member of a relay team is found guilty of doping. This means that a case similar to the present one is not likely to happen again.

The full text of the CAS decision is available on the CAS website (ww.tas-cas.org, section “case law”)

USATF statement on CAS decision regarding Sydney Olympic relay

USA Track & Field again thanks the Court of Arbitration for Sport for its thoughtful consideration of this issue, which from the beginning has hinged on the application of rules and due process. Now that a decision has been rendered, the sport can continue to move forward in a positive direction.