Rogge wants loopholes closed

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge in Berlin August 13, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants to introduce stricter new rules preventing athletes from keeping their medals when one of their team mates commits a doping offence.

IOC president Jacques Rogge told Reuters in an interview on Friday that the IOC would look at ways to close any legal loopholes after seven team mates of disgraced U.S. sprinter Marion Jones won an appeal allowing them to keep their medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"I think the international federations and also the IOC must tighten their rules to avoid this happening again," Rogge said.

"We respect the judgment but we are going to study the consequences to see how we can improve our action."

Jones was stripped of the five medals she won at the 2000 Games when she confessed in 2007 to using steroids.

The IOC and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) also ordered Jones's team mates in the 4x100 and 4x400 metres relays to hand back their medals.

But they refused and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The court upheld their appeal on Friday, saying there were no rules in place at the time of the Sydney Olympics that allowed entire teams to be disqualified.

U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz told Reuters she sympathised with innocent athletes who were punished for the wrongdoing of others.

"I detest doping in sport. Those who dope are cowards," she wrote in an email to Reuters.

"I am not surprised by the outcome of the CAS, given the fact that the IAAF rules at the time were silent on the issue of how a relay team could be disqualified.

"I am sad for all of the athletes who have been harmed by the actions of one, who I believe was a coward and a cheat."

The IAAF has already introduced more stringent rules preventing a repeat of this in the future.

Rogge, meanwhile, said the IOC would abide by CAS's ruling.

"We are disappointed that we have lost the case, but we respect the decision of the Court of Arbitration," Rogge said.

"The IOC created the Court of Arbitration to be independent so if there is a decision against, what I would call the sports movement, then I would have to accept it."

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg and Sonia Oxley; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)