The 4x400 and 4x100 metres teams who had won gold and bronze medals respectively had them taken away last year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the same time that Jones was stripped of her medals she had won at those Games, including the gold won in the 100m and 200m, following her admission that she had been using banned performance-enhancing drugs.

In a preliminary ruling, CAS dismissed the runners' claim that the IOC was not entitled to disqualify them beyond a three-year period after the Games and that they should not be punished because of the actions of a team-mate. 

CAS will now schedule hearings next year into the full merits of the case, a process which could drag on for months.

The IOC said in a statement: "We acknowledge the decision of CAS and are now awaiting their final judgment on this matter."

Jones' teammates on the 4x400m squad were Jearl Miles-Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander Clark and Andrea Anderson.

Members of the 4x100m were Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson.

All but Perry are included in the CAS appeal.

Gaines and Edwards both served drugs bans of their own following Sydney.

Gaines was implicated in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (Balco) scandal that Jones was embroiled in and Edwards tested positive for anabolic steroids.

Both were banned for two years, although Edwards' suspension was later commuted to a year.

CAS ruled that the IOC had the right to disqualify the relay runners, even though the decision came eight years after the Sydney Olympics.

The athletes had cited an IOC rule that no Olympic decision could be challenged more than three years after the closing ceremony.

But CAS said the IOC acted on information provided by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and did not issue an actual "decision" in the matter.

"The CAS panel has considered that the three-year rule did not prevent the IOC from withdrawing medals which were awarded at a victory ceremony because the distribution of medals, which occurs immediately after the race, is not in itself a 'decision," CAS said.


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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