PARIS - The doping admission by five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones is good for sport because it shows that drug cheats eventually get caught, IOC president Jacques Rogge said in a French newspaper interview Monday.
"It is a good thing every time we catch an athlete, even if it is always, in itself, a little disappointing," Rogge told Le Monde. "As a lover of sports, it hurts me. But as a leader, I say it is a good thing."
After long denying that she ever used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted this month that she had used the designer steroid "the clear." She returned the three gold medals and two bronzes she won at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Rogge said the IOC was waiting for the International Association of Athletics Federations to rule on Jones' results from Sydney before deciding how to reallocate the medals. Jones won golds in the 100 and 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay, and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay.
Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, who finished second behind Jones in the 100, stands to move up to the gold medal, even though she was suspended for two years after missing doping tests before the 2004 Athens Olympics. Jones' American relay teammates could also lose their medals.
"The IAAF must judge whether it's only a problem with an individual or if there is also an effect on the 4x100 and 4x400 relays," Rogge said. "For Katerina Thanou, we will also wait for the advice of the IAAF and we will examine the case of each athlete individually.
"There have been lots of indignant comments," he added, referring to complaints that Thanou does not deserve the gold. "We will look at this calmly. We take the sensibilities into account but we must also deliver justice."
Rogge noted that the IOC plans to introduce a rule whereby any athlete suspended more than six months for doping would be banned from the subsequent Olympics. He said the rule would go into effect for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver if it receives approval at the next IOC general assembly in Beijing on the eve of the 2008 Summer Games.
