The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled that all runners on the U.S. 1,600 meter relay team from the 2000 Summer Olympics - except Jerome Young - can keep their gold medals.
The court in Lausanne, Switzerland upheld an appeal Thursday from the U.S. Olympic Committee challenging a move to strip the gold from Michael Johnson and the rest of the squad over a doping infraction by team member Jerome Young.
Young tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in 1999 but he avoided a two-year ban after being exonerated by a U.S. appeals panel.
The arbitration court now says that the rules in place at the time of the Sydney Games did not call for an entire team to be disqualified and that only Young should be stripped of his medal.
USA Track and Field, the sport's American governing body, thanked the court in a statement "for its thoughtful consideration of the case." USATF said now the sport can continue to move forward in a positive direction.
Jerome Young was banned for life for a second serious doping offense in July 2004. Two of his teammates from Sydney - Alvin and Calvin Harrison - are serving suspensions connected to the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) case.
That case has tainted several high-profile athletes, including runners Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and baseball stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. Last week, BALCO founder Victor Conte agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.