Jones, who won record five medals, forfeited all three of her gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x400m relay after belatedly confessing to doping and then serving time this year in a Texas federal prison for perjury.

But the 100m gold will now not be inherited by the Greek runner-up Thanou, who was banned last year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from Olympic competition after she missed three compulsory drug tests within 18 months.

Instead the IOC's ruling Executive Board, meeting here today, have decided to leave the position blank, which has never happened before.

Jamaica's Tanya Lawrence, who originally finished third, will move up to joint silver medallist with Thanou while her team-mate Merlene Ottey will get the bronze, her ninth Olympic medal in a career that started at Moscow in 1980.

Thanou, who has never failed a drugs test in her life nor ever admitted using banned substances, is being punished for something that happened nearly four years after Sydney.

She and her training partner, Kostas Kederis, were allegedly involved in faking a motorbike crash on the eve of the 2004 Athens after she had missed a series of out-of-competition tests.

It led to the pair of them withdrawing from the Games in their home country and subsequently being banned for two years by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). 

Thanou (pictured) returned in time for the Beijing Olympics last year but was stopped from competing by the IOC under rule 45.2 after being accused of "bringing the sport into disrepute" because of what had happened in Athens.

They have now effectively back-dated that punishment to Sydney.

Mark Adams, the IOC spokesman, said: "The actual awarding of a gold medal, of any medal, is certainly not a right and therefore in this case it will not happen.

"It was disgraceful behaviour by her and this is a unique situation.

"It's felt that with her conduct she didn't deserve to be honoured with this recognition."

Thanou is now set to carry out her threat of legal action against the IOC.

Gregory Ionnidis, the British-based lawyer of Thanou, had said earlier today that he would wait to see what the IOC decided to do before commenting.

But in the past Thanou has threatened to sue if she was not awarded the gold medal and also over being stripped of her accreditation at the Athens Olympics.

Thanou has claimed that alleged threats against her by Olympic officials in 2004 could give rise to criminal liability against the IOC and certain members, as those threats were in breach of the Hellenic Criminal Code and were directed at a Greek citizen on Greek soil. 
 
Adams said: "The IOC believes we have a strong moral case and good legal case."

Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas goes from silver to gold in the 200m with Sri Lanka's Susanthika Jayasinghe moving up to silver and Jamaica's Beverly McDonald to bronze.

Russia's Tatyana Kotova moves from fourth to bronze in the long jump.

The reallocation of the medals for the 4x400m and 4x100m relays, where Jones’s teams placed first and third respectively, is still pending the outcome of an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected].


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December 2009: Exclusive - Jones medals should not be reallocated says Conte
December 2009: Jones Sydney 100m gold medal to be left vacant
December 2009: Conte claims Jones still has not faced up to her drug past
August 2009: Conclusion in Jones case to be speeded up promises Rogge
August 2009: Thanou rejects IOC compromise deal over Marion Jones gold