The International Olympic Committee delayed a decision to re-allocate medals won by Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics because more athletes may be involved in the BALCO doping affair.

The IOC executive board meeting that started yesterday was set to strip Jones's five medals, including three golds, after the US sprinter confessed in October to taking banned substances.

It will further investigate the case for fear that more Olympic athletes, who could be upgraded, may be involved in the BALCO affair.

Several prominent athletes have been embroiled in the doping scandal involving the San Francisco-based BALCO laboratory, the latest being baseball player Barry Bonds who has been charged with perjury over alleged drugs use.

Jones faces potential jail time for lying to federal agents.

"We feel that some names of athletes may still appear (in the BALCO case)," disciplinary commission member Denis Oswald told reporters.

"We know there were more athlete-clients."

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