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Report: IOC strips U.S. relay team of 2012 silver medal

AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File
AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File

The entire U.S. men's 4x100m relay team is being stripped of its 2012 Olympic silver medal, the Associated Press reports.

Team member Tyson Gay, who ran the third leg of the relay, failed drug tests in the summer of 2013. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency later said Gay first used a prohibited substance on July 15, 2012, less than three weeks before the start of the London Games.

All of Gay's results from London were disqualified, as well as those from other events, and he was suspended until July 2014. Gay holds the record for the fastest 100m by an American, clocking in at 9.69 records. He competed in the Beijing Olympics but did not win an invididual medal, his performance hampered by a hamstring injury.

Gay turned in his silver medal for the relay to the U.S. Olympic Committee last year. Now, Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Ryan Bailey, Jeff Demps (the former NFL running back), and Doc Patton will have to do the same. Six medals were awarded because Demps and Patton ran in a preliminary heat.

The AP report does not name sources, only identifying them as officials with knowledge of the situation.

They say the International Olympic Committee notified the U.S. Olympic Committee by letter on Wednesday that the team has been disqualified and the medals withdrawn. The letter asks the USOC to collect the medals and return them to the IOC.

Gatlin also holds a gold, silver, and bronze from the 2004 Athens Olympics and an individual bronze from London. Patton holds a silver from Athens. This was the first and only medal for Kimmons, Bailey, and Demps.

The report did not say whether Trinidad and Tobago, which finished third, or fourth-place finisher France will be upgraded.

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Danielle Elliot is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or find her on Twitter and Facebook.