IOC to investigate Montgomery doping claim

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee will investigate an admission by jailed U.S. sprinter Tim Montgomery that he used drugs before winning a gold medal with the 4x100 meters relay team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Montgomery, 33, who has been sentenced to almost nine years in jail on heroin and check fraud charges, made the confession in an interview for the HBO television "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" scheduled to be broadcast on Tuesday.

IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said on Tuesday the IOC would look into the matter as part of its open file on the BALCO case.

"Back in 2004, the IOC set up a disciplinary commission with a view to investigating how the case might have affected Olympic Games' competitions," she said.

Montgomery, a former world 100 meters record holder, was banned for two years for taking drugs supplied by the San Francisco laboratory BALCO. His former partner Marion Jones was stripped of her five Sydney Games medals and jailed for lying to investigators.

Moreau said the IOC also backed the U.S. Olympic Committee's call for Montgomery's medal to be returned voluntarily.

"We support USOC's position in asking the athlete to step forward and voluntarily return his medal," she said.

BANNED SUBSTANCES

Montgomery said he had used banned substances several times before the 2000 Games race.

"Prior to the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia I broke the rules," said Montgomery in a transcript provided by HBO.

"I used (substances to boost my) testosterone and then I used HGH (human growth hormone) four times a month. I have a gold medal I'm sitting on that I didn't get with my own ability."

Brazil were second and Cuba third in the Sydney relay.

In 2002 Montgomery set a 100 meters world record of 9.78 seconds that was later erased after the U.S. anti-doping agency found he had received steroids. He was barred from competition in 2005.

The IOC has already forced the U.S. men's 4x400 relay team who took Sydney gold give up their medals after Antonio Pettigrew, one of the relay members, admitted to doping earlier this year.

The medal-winning relay teams in Sydney, which included Jones have also had their results wiped out after she admitted to doping violations.