I won’t hand back my medal, says Johnson

However Johnson told L’Equipe Newspaper that he would not be adhering to Pound’s suggestion they give their medals back.

“They will never get my medal,” said the five-time Olympic gold medallist, who along with all the other American track and field gold medal winners from Sydney had been under suspicion since the revelation that one of them had run despite having failed a drugs test. Johnson said that it was time for the punishments on doped American athletes was handled by some body other than the US Track And Field (USATF) because they were afraid to hand them out fearing that they would be subject to court action.

“The American federation had no option but to allow him to run at the Olympics, because if he had been subsequently cleared he would have demanded compensation.”

“I would prefer that the USATF no longer had the power to punish the athletes but an independent body who would have to run the risk of possible legal action.

“An athlete who tests positive should be suspended but seeing how the procedure operates in my country it is difficult to put into practice,” the 200m and 400m world record holder added. The USATF and the sport’s ruling body the IAAF had explained on Wednesday that any American doping case between 1996-2000 remained closed after a ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last year in a case brought by the IAAF to try and force the Americans to reveal the names of the athletes, who had tested positive. However that cut little ice with Pound who urged the IOC, of which he is a member and who lost out in the race to replace outgoing president Juan Antonio Samaranch in 2001.

“I would like the IOC to open an enquiry into the affair and take the appropriate measures as soon as possible. The legality of the American victory in the 4×400 relay is now in question,” said Pound, who added he deplored the conspiracy of silence surrounding the USATF.

The Americans though defend themselves by saying that because of a confidentiality clause they are not at liberty to reveal the athlete’s name.