ATHENS, Greece (AP):

A LAWYER representing Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou said he planned to sue the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for failing to hand her a 2000 Olympic gold medal won by disgraced United States athlete Marion Jones.

Thanou's lawyer Gregory Ioannidis told The Associated Press yesterday 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.

Embarrassing

"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 100m at the Sydney Olympics, finishing second behind Jones.

Jones was later stripped of that gold medal - as well as golds in the 200m and 1,600m relay and bronze medals in the long jump and 400m 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.