THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped the medals Thursday from Marion Jones' U.S. relay teammates at the 2000 Olympics because of her doping history.

The IOC executive board disqualified the athletes who won gold in the 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the 400-meter relay in Sydney.

IOC legal adviser Francois Carrard, who assisted the disciplinary panel investigating the case, told The Associated Press that the U.S. Olympic Committee has been ordered to return the medals.

The decision follows the admission by Jones last year that she was doping at the time of the Sydney Games.

She returned her five medals last year and the IOC formally stripped her of the results in December. Jones won gold in the 100 meters, 200 and 1,600 relay, and bronze in the long jump and 400 relay.

Jones' teammates on the 1,600 squad were Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson. The 400-relay squad also had Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson.

The runners had previously refused to give up their medals, saying it would be wrong to punish them for Jones' violations. They have hired a U.S. lawyer to defend their case, which could wind up in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The IOC had put off any decision on reallocating the medals, pending more information from the ongoing BALCO steroid investigation in the United States.

A reshuffling of the medals could affect the medal results of more than three dozen other athletes. The IOC wants to know whether any other Sydney athletes are implicated in the BALCO files.

In December, IOC president Jacques Rogge said the committee had initiated the process for removing the relay medals, but would give the runners a hearing. He said the athletes would be represented by the U.S. Olympic Committee, even though the American body has already said the relays were tainted and the medals should be returned.

The next IOC board meeting takes place in Athens in June, followed by another meeting in Beijing on the eve of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics.

(SD-Agencies)