What's the Fair Decision?

In my sports and media class I try to bring some current sports news stories in to each class meeting. One of the biggest stories this semester was Marion Jones admitting to doping before the 2000 Summer Olympics and giving back her medals.

But what about her relay teammates who competed cleanly? Is it fair to ask them to return their medals as well?

This has been a topic of discussion in my class. One of my students even wrote a recent paper about it. And I still don’t have an answer. I would say that they should give up their medals because, due to Jones’ cheating, they no longer have the winning time. But can the Olympics and those that govern track and field really take their medal away since it wasn’t them who cheated? It truly is a sticky situation.

See this CNN interview with Passion Richardson, one of Jones’ teammates who does not want to give her medal back.