8 Team USA athletes who were stripped of their Olympic medals and why ft. Tyson Gay and Marion Jones

With the USA Athletes collecting 2,959 medals (1,175 gold, 951 silver, and 833 bronze medals), the nation stands as the most dominant in the history of the Summer Olympics. In the last edition in Tokyo, the USA athletes excelled as they led the medal table, winning 113 medals, including 39 gold, 41 silver, and 33 gold medals.

Although USA athletes' dominance often makes headlines, there were also a few instances when they made news for the wrong reasons. The USA athletes were also stripped due to doping and non-doping offenses. Let’s look at the USA athletes who lost their medals due to the above reasons.

8 USA athletes who lost their Olympic medals

#1 Jack Egan (Sport - Boxing, Edition - 1904 Summer Olympics)

Jack Egan clinched the silver medal in the men's lightweight and bronze in the welterweight division. However, it was later discovered that he had competed under a different name, with his true identity being Frank Joseph Floyd.

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) then revoked his Olympic medals revoked his Olympic medals due to the illegality of competing under a false name, which violated AAU regulations.

#2 Rick DeMont (Sport - Swimming, Edition - 1972 Summer Olympics)

Rick DeMont swam a time of 4:00.26 to win the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle event. However, following a post-event urine analysis test, the banned substance ephedrine was found in his sample which resulted in him being disqualified from the event.

This substance was present in the prescribed asthma medication called Marax. Although DeMont had specified his medicines on the medical disclosure form, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) didn’t check with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) medical committee about it beforehand.

#3 Marion Jones (Sport - Athletics, Edition - 2000 Summer Olympics)

Marion Jones, who had won five medals including three gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x400m, and bronze in the 4x100m and long jump events, was stripped of her Olympic medals won during the 2000 Sydney Olympics after admitting to the usage of performance-enhancing drugs.

#4 Antonio Pettigrew, #5 Jerome Young (Sport - Athletics, Edition - 2000 Summer Olympics)

Antonio Pettigrew and Jerome Young were both members of the men's 4x400m relay team that won the gold during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2004, Young was banned for a doping offense, which nullified all his results from between 1999 and 2001. This stripped the medals of all the six members of the relay team.

However, since Young didn’t participate in the finals of the event, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reinstated the medals to the rest of the five-member team.

But, Pettigrew then accepted that he had used performance-enhancing steroids from 1997 to 2003, which led to the entire team being stripped of their medals once again.

#6 Lance Armstrong (Sport - Cycling, Edition - 2000 Summer Olympics)

Lance Armstrong is one of the USA athletes to be stripped of his bronze medal in Cycling. He had collected the bronze medal in the men’s road time trial, where the athletes covered a race distance of 46.8 km, due to an anti-doping violation.

#7 Tyler Hamilton (Sport - Cycling, Edition - 2004 Summer Olympics)

Tyler Hamilton, who achieved a gold medal in the men’s road time trial in the 2004 Athens Olympics, admitted to using drugs to enhance his performance during his sporting career and returned his medal to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. As a result, the IOC stripped his Olympic medal.

#8 Tyson Gay (Sport - Athletics, Edition - 2012 Summer Olympics)

The USA athletes collected the silver medal in the 4x100 meters relay where Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay, and Ryan Bailey were the members in the final.

However, Gay tested positive for a prohibited substance in 2013, resulting in his suspension for a year by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He was later stripped of his medal along with the entire relay team.