Exactly what happens when the Olympic Committee "strips" someone of their medals?

[bluestateguy]

I've always wondered what they actually do when a medal winner is stripped of his/her medals for doping. Do they send the Olympic police to their house to physically take the medals away?

[Nailzberg]

1. The heavy handed Olympic Police are rivaled only by FOX Security.

:rofl:

[Buzz Clik]

2. as I recall...

The IOC does have some legal rights to repossess medals. From what I remember of the Jim Thorpe case, the IOC tends to simply apply a lot of public pressure and try to shame the medal holders to give them back. Surviving heirs seem to be far more reluctant to return medas than living athletes.

[bbinacan]

3. A very good question and

do they award them to the Silver Medalist?

[cabraverde]

4. they should ..and with modern technology

They could probably edit the cheater right out of the video footage, that would be pretty cool and great poetic justice.

[K Gardner]

7. The Official Olympic Records are altered to show the names of the silver

medalist as gold, bronze as silver, 4th moves to bronze, etc.

Im not sure what happens to the medals themselves, but I think they are redistributed. Don't have a link to support that, but just remember hearing it a few years ago.

[bbinacan]

12. Thanks. n/t

[SoCalDem]

8. nope they are totally DQed

the sad thing is that the one who really won, did not get the fanfare and the sense of pride on the podium..and may have actually gotten some grief from their fans at the time for not winning.. and they got no "shoe deal"..no magazine covers, no endorsements....

[bluestateguy]

9. The case of Andreea Raducan is interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreea_R%C4%83ducan

Doping charge

However, several days after the competition concluded, the IOC announced that Răducan had tested positive for pseudophedrine, at the time, a banned substance. Amânar had also tested positive for Nurofen, but as she was taller and heavier than Răducan, the substance did not register as being over the allowed amount as it had with her younger teammate. <8>

Răducan and her coaches maintained that she was innocent, and, that as a minor, she had only followed the treatment plan the team physician, Ioachim Oana, had recommended. The night before the competition, she had been given Nurofen, a common over-the-counter medication, to help treat a fever and cough. She also said that the pills had made her feel dizzy instead of helping her in any way.<9><10><8>

In spite of strenuous appeals from Răducan, her coaches, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and certain members of the gymnastics community, she was stripped of her gold medal. The gold was re-awarded to Amânar, Olaru was promoted to silver, and former fourth-place finisher Liu Xuan from China was given the bronze medal.<8> Răducan's test samples from the team and vault event finals were clean; she was therefore allowed to keep the medals she won in these competitions.<11><9> The Romanian team doctor who gave Răducan the drug in two cold medicine pills was expelled from the Games and suspended through the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.<10>

Both Amânar and Olaru expressed their belief that Răducan was the deserving all-around gold medalist, as did Liu Xuan, who noted, "I think the all-around champ (Răducan) is very good. I feel very sad and sorry for her that this problem occurred. I can't make sense of it. ... In gymnastics we rely on technique to compete our moves. It's not possibly to rely on drugs or strength, you have to rely on skill."<12> All three declined a formal ceremony when the medals were re-awarded.<13> Following the announcement that Răducan would be stripped of her medal, Olaru and Amânar initially decided to refuse their new medals; however, they changed their minds in order to bring the medals back to Romania.<10> Amânar said of the gold medal, "I didn't win it. It was won by Andreea and belongs to Andreea."<14> She did in fact return the medal to Răducan back in Romania.<15><16>

[SalmonChantedEvening]

5. The Wheaties people issue a recall notice... n/t

[K Gardner]

6. ROFL !

[Poiuyt]

10. I think I read that in Marion Jones' case, she sent them back

But another question is what about the other members of her relay team? Should they have to forfeit theirs too on the basis of Marion's illegal contribution? At least one member of that team said she worked hard for her medal and wouldn't return hers.

[onenote]

11. In Marion Jones' case, she returned them. If she hadn't, the IOC probably would've sued

to get them back. I'm not certain of this, but I would expect that the award of the medals is contingent on them having been legitimately earned and that when an athlete is accepted as a participant in the olympic games they agree to that condition, giving the IOC the legal right to reclaim them (under a breach of contract theory).