The following is a list of stripped Olympic medals. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body that can rule when athletes are in violation of rules in the Olympic Games. The IOC can strip athletes' Olympic honors and request the return of medals. In the case of team events, the IOC can strip medals from a team based on infractions by a single team member. In the table below, for stripped team medals, the athlete in violation is shown in parentheses. The international governing body of each Olympic sport can also strip athletes of medals for infractions of the rules of the sport.
Contents
- List of stripped Olympic medals
- List of Olympic medals stripped and later returned
- Stripped returned and stripped
- References
Since 1968 to 1 March 2017, a total of 130 medals have been stripped, which the vast majority of these occurring since 2000, due to improved drug testing methods. The majority of medals have been stripped in Athletics (45, including 21 gold medals) and Weightlifting (45, including 13 gold medals). The country which has had the most medals stripped from it is Russia, with 35. The 2008 Summer Olympics had 44 medals stripped, and the 2012 Summer Olympics had 27.
All but three of the stripped medals involve infractions stemming from doping and drug testing. Jim Thorpe was stripped of his two 1912 gold medals based on evidence he had participated in professional sports, but Thorpe's medals were restored in 1982, 29 years after his death, and presented to his children.
Ibragim Samadov of the 1992 Unified Team was stripped of his bronze medal after he "hurled his bronze medal to the floor" and "stormed off the stage during the awards ceremony." Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his bronze medal in 2008 for similar reasons. China was stripped of a team gymnastics bronze medal from 2000 in 2010 after a team member was found to be underage at the time of the competition.
In a few cases the IOC has reversed earlier rulings that stripped athletes of medals. In the case of Rick DeMont, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has recognized his gold medal performance in the 1972 Summer Olympics in 2001, but only the IOC has the power to restore his medal, and it has as of 2017 refused to do so.
List of stripped Olympic medals
This is the list of Olympic medals stripped by the IOC, the governing body of the Olympics.
Notes:
List of Olympic medals stripped and later returned
Here is the list of Olympic medals that were stripped by the IOC and later returned by the IOC.
Stripped, returned, and stripped
Six gold medals for the 2000 Olympic men's 4 × 400 metres relay were awarded to the U.S. squad of Jerome Young, Michael Johnson, Antonio Pettigrew, Angelo Taylor, Alvin Harrison and Calvin Harrison. In 2004, after Young was retroactively banned from 1999 to 2001, all six were stripped of their medals.
In 2005, the Court of Arbitration for Sport restored the medals of the remaining five, but in 2008, Pettigrew admitted to the use of HGH and EPO from 1997 to 2003, meaning that the team were disqualified, but it was not until 2012 that the medals were stripped from the remaining four.