COPENHAGEN (AP):

Sport's highest court will decide by December 18 whether Marion Jones' United States (US) relay teammates can keep their medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee had hoped that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) would rule this month, but it has extended its deadline for a decision.

"We'll have to wait until then," IOC vice-president Thomas Bach said yesterday at an IOC session in the Danish capital.

Positive tests

Bach also said the IOC was close to deciding whether to disqualify five athletes who tested positive for the banned endurance booster CERA at the Beijing Games. The five - including Olympic 1,500-metre champion Rashid Ramzi - had their cases heard by an IOC panel in July. All deny doping.

"We're about to deliberate in the different disciplinary commissions, and I'm confident that in the next couple of weeks we can come to a decision," Bach told The Associated Press.

Jones lost all five of her medals - including three gold - after admitting in 2007 that she was using performance-enhancing drugs at the time of the Games. The Americans won gold in the 1,600-metre relay and bronze in the 400-metre relay. Jones also won the 100 and 200 metres in Sydney, and took bronze in the long jump.

The IOC has held off reallocating Jones' medals to other athletes, pending more evidence in the BALCO steroid probe and the relay appeal. If CAS turns down the appeal, the IOC will immediately ask the IAAF to amend the results of the relays, Bach said.

"There is no need for any other decision," Bach said. "Either they can keep the medals, if CAS decides so. If not, then we will ask the international federation to correct the results according to the CAS decision."

The court's secretary general, Matthieu Reeb, told The AP he does not expect a ruling much before December 18.

"Knowing my arbitrators, they will probably use the time rather than speed up, so I'm afraid it will be December and not November," he said. "There are a lot of legal issues submitted by the parties, especially by the claimants, the athletes, which need to be addressed and this takes a lot of time."

Reeb acknowledged, however, that "it's probably now the time to put an end to this case".

Stripped

Reeb gave no indication of how the court would rule, but he said Jerome Young's case could not be used as a precedent. CAS previously ruled that only Young and not his teammates should be stripped of the gold medal in the 1,600 relay from Sydney. Reeb said a key difference was that Young, unlike Jones, ran only in preliminaries and not the final.

"The case of Marion Jones herself is maybe easy, but the problem with the teammates is different," he said. "We cannot use the previous case as a real precedent for this one."

In the women's races, Jamaica took silver behind the US in the 1,600m relay and stands to move up to gold if the medals are readjusted. Russia would move from bronze to silver and Nigeria from fourth to bronze. In the 400 relay, France was fourth behind the Americans and would be promoted to the bronze.

Jones' teammates on the 1,600m relay squad were Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson. The 400m relay squad also had Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson.

The IOC pledged in August to speed up the process of reallocating the medals - which has dragged on since 2007 - but the CAS postponement marks yet another delay.

"It is frustrating that it's taken so long," Bach said. "But it's not about our frustration, it's about the frustration of the other athletes who placed behind (the US)."