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Ex-Olympic champ `not happy at all' to receive medal

Former Olympic champion Irina Privalova has said she would not be happy to receive the Sydney Games 4x400m relay silver medal the Russians will get after Marion Jones confessed to using steroids.

American Jones, who won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Games, returned her medals this week after admitting she had used performance-enhancing drugs.

Privalova, who at the age of 32 won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the same Olympics, was also a member of the Russian team who finished third behind the US and Jamaica in the relay.

"No, I'm not happy at all to get that silver instead of the bronze," Privalova, who retired after Sydney, was quoted as saying by the All Sport news agency. "I'm not happy because Marion's admission to drug use is a real tragedy for our sport."

Meanwhile a former relay teammate of Marion Jones acknowledged she might have to pay for the disgraced sprinter's doping violations, perhaps even giving back her Olympic gold medal.

"I defended Marion against critics and said that I wouldn't believe she had taken performance-enhancing drugs unless she said it herself," Jearl Miles-Clark said in a statement Friday. "Well, the other day she admitted it, and the reality of the situation has to be dealt with."

"She made mistakes and now has to pay for them," said Miles-Clark, a member of the 4x400m relay team. "Unfortunately, others may pay for those mistakes too."

US Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said on Monday the relays were tainted because of Jones' presence and all the medals should be returned, but it's up to the International Olympic Committee to make that decision.

"My immediate thought is that this is bad for athletes like myself, who are truly clean and run outstanding times," Miles-Clark said. "I feel that everyone will suspect us of cheating and look at us with a jaundiced eye."

Jones teamed with Miles-Clark, LaTasha Colander-Richardson, Monique Hennagan and Andrea Anderson to win gold in the 4x400m relay, and with Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson to win bronze in the 4x100m relay.

Richardson told the American CBS television network's Early Show this week that she wants to keep her bronze medal, and that she "should not have to suffer the consequences for someone else's bad decisions and choices."

Edwards' agent, Emanuel Hudson, said they were "waiting and seeing" on how to respond.

Both Edwards and Gaines have served doping bans since the 2000 Olympics.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has authority over results at the Olympics, while the IOC controls the medals. IAAF rules state that all relay team members should be disqualified, but it's not clear whether that rule was in force during the Sydney Games.
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