Marion Jones, the Olympic champion, has admitted to doping and returned the five medals she won in the 2000 Olympics. Local track star, LaTasha Colander-Clark of Portsmouth, was a team member of Jones’ on the 4×400 relay which won the gold medal. The US Olympic Committee is calling for the return of the medals from Colander-Clark and other members of the team as well as the members of the 4×100 relay team in which Jones participated and which won a bronze medal. One member of that team, Passion Richardson, says she should be able to keep her medal.
So – should Colander-Clark and the other members of the relay teams be required to return their medals?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I’m afraid to say that yes, she should, but the IOC should not transfer medals to the silver medal recipients. All the records and the awards and recognition is getting more than a little ridiculous in my eyes. I’m coming to the opinion that it is not the rare athelete who cheats to win–it’s the rare athlete who doesn’t. As far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the team members on the silver medal team was cheating, too. It’s starting to seem like a stastical certainty.
Hasn’t she been through enough? What does taking back the medal accomplish?
If she competed without doping than it is a shame however all three of her teammates did. The whole team is basically tainted.
As a big fan of cycling I have suffered through the various doping allegations and scandals in that sport. To some degree I have to agree with the thought that if everyone else is doing it… but that doesn’t make it right. I don’t believe that the Federal Government should be wasting massive resources on this issue but individual sporting agencies have the right to set their own rules and punish those that break them. Ms. Richardson had the misfortune of being on a team that broke the rules (at least 3 of 4 members) and the medal is definitely tainted at this point.
The thing that gets lost in all of this is the sad fact that people do not feel that they can compete in their chosen field without cheating. The fact that sports has become such a money making venture and people so willing to do anything to win really destroys some of the joy in watching and participating in competitive sports. Gone are the days of the thrill of victory only to be replaced by the thrill of the pay check…
No.
Craig – Colander-Clark wasn’t on the same team as Richardson. AFAIK, the only one on the 4×400 relay team to be in trouble is Jones. Did I miss something?
Richardson is in a different spot because, as you said, the rest of her team members have all been in trouble for doping.
Hells to the yeah! And one of the members of the fourth place team HAS been disciplined for doping.
I’d say that if one of her teammates cheated and their result is invalidated that yes, unfortunately, though the broken rule was not due to her action, she should return the medal.
It’s no different from a situation where the team has won a place but then further review shows that one runner did not transfer the baton in the correct zone, which is one of the rules. Though two of the relay runners did nothing wrong, they still did not win; a rule was broken. In this case a rule was broken as well, by one of the members (at least one of them, perhaps more …)
Or, imagine a basketball team finding out that one of their members was ineligible – perhaps he or she was not a citizen. All of their results are invalidated and they lose their medals.
Slightly unfair compared with an individual sport, but, so it goes.
I might ask her if it wasn’t enough to simply make the team, or run so well on the track that your team would have won had there been no cheating. Is a hunk of metal on a rope really required in this case? Is it not enough for her that she knows that she was one of the best on the track that race?
It is unfortunate, but ethically it is the right thing to do.
Tough call. Like Craig, I’m a cycling fan and have spent (too much) time thinking about this. On one hand, I suspect that the call to return the medal is arbitrary, and wasn’t spelled out as a consequence of racing on a team with a doper ahead of time. So she probably shouldn’t be required to return it. On the other hand, if there’s going to be any real progress on controlling doping, we’re going to have to step up the pressure on all the athletes – including the pressure that can come from a teammate knowing that her medals are at risk from teaming up with a doper. There’s a big difference in motivation to report between that situation and one where the consequences fall only on the doper, if she’s caught.
In any event, if she turns it back in, she should get a free punch at Marion.*
*And while it long ago became clear that Marion was a doper, it was pretty damn sad to see it confirmed. I’m jaded enough to think that most sports I’m watching are 3/4 dopers, but Marion Jones made me esp. sad (much like Erik Zabel, who recently admitted to doping, and is widely thought of as one of the good guys of cycling . . .).
I think seven years is too long to strip a medal from people who did nothing wrong.
Yes. They all should return their medals because the they are team events. It’s similar to if the first runner false starts and the team is disqualified. It’s sad because the other participants did nothing wrong, but that’s what consequences of team sports. It’s not focused on one player; it’s everyone involved.
Vivian, I might have misread the article. I was in a hurry this morning but this is something I wanted to comment on. I thought that more than one member of her team had been busted doping over the years. Unfortunately one is enough.
Sad to say, but yes – she should return the medal.
No she did nothing wrong and the other two did nothing wrong. Were the second and third place teams tested? Take Marion’s medals and put an asterick by the relay race results.
Viv the only reason for any of the athletes to return the medals is if they knowingly participated in a conspiracy to commit fraud on the sport by doping during the event. If the relay teammates were not party to Jone’s doping and did not dope themselves than absolutely NO they should not return there medals. We do not take wins away from teams who have proven or outside investigations have proven that an individual used steriods, they simply penalize the individual.