A lawyer representing Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou said he planned to sue the International Olympic Committee for failing to hand her a 2000 Olympic gold medal won by disgraced U.S. athlete Marion Jones.
Thanou's lawyer Gregory Ioannidis told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had written to the IOC to announce his intention to take the sporting body to court unless it handed over the medal or started negotiations about the issue with him.
The letter to the IOC marks the formal start of his legal proceedings, he said.
"The situation is embarrassing for the Olympic movement," Ioannidis said. "I think that what they are doing is quite discriminatory."
Thanou, 33, won the silver medal in the 100 meters at the Sydney Olympics, finishing second behind Marion Jones.
Jones was later stripped of that gold medal _ as well as golds in the 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay and bronze medals in the long jump and 400-meter relay _ after she confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs. But the IOC has not yet decided whether to hand the medal to Thanou, who was later involved in a doping scandal.
The Greek runner served a two-year competition ban after missing a doping test on the eve of the Athens Olympics in 2004. She and fellow Greek runner Costas Kenteris claimed they were involved in a motorcycle accident on the day they missed the missed tests.
Ioannidis said the IOC had ignored his repeated requests to discuss the medal issue.
"I have been asking them for the last 18 months to sit down with us to discuss this issue," he said, adding that if the legal challenge proceeds, the case would be heard "in a national court of law."
The IOC has put off any decision on reallocating medals until later this year when it takes into account all the files from the BALCO investigation in the United States. In addition to the medals for Jones and her relay teammates, the IOC stripped the entire U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team of its Sydney gold after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping.
Thanou returned to international competition in 2007 and has qualified for the Beijing Games.
She has been issued accreditation for the games but an IOC disciplinary committee will meet in Beijing on Thursday to review her eligibility. A ruling will eventually be made by the IOC executive board. The first heats for the women's 100 meters are set for Aug. 16.
Ioannidis did not say whether he would accept an invitation to attend the hearing, arguing that he first required to be formally notified about the reasons for the meeting.
The lawyer, who spoke to the AP by telephone, said he did not wish to disclose his whereabouts Wednesday or those of Thanou.
