The rules, as the IOC and track pooh-bahs see 'em

By Philip Hersh

Is it any wonder athletes have trouble dealing with the anti-doping system when organizations responsible for it change the rules situationally -– or simply disregard them?

In its effort to strip relay medals from admitted doper Marion Jones' 2000 Olympic teammates, the International Olympic Committee is contending that a clearly applicable precedent in a decision by sport's supreme court is meaningless.

What's more, the International Association of Athletics Federations, track's global body, simply has failed to comply with the terms of that decision, I have discovered.

The IAAF voted to strip the gold medals from the U.S. men's 4 x 400-meter relay because one of its members, Jerome Young, should have been ineligible to compete at the 2000 Olympics because he was incorrectly cleared of a 1999 doping charge.