DeMont used an asthma medication containing the banned substance ephedrine the night before beating Talbot's pupil, Brad Cooper, by .01 seconds in the 400-meter freestyle final. In a lawsuit filed in 1996, he blamed the USOC for not passing this information on to the IOC and checking whether he was at risk of failing a drug test. The USOC admitted wrongdoing Tuesday, and DeMont now plans to send an application to the IOC executive committee for official recognition as the gold medalist. To go back to a race that happened almost 30 years ago and to start backtracking and talking about changing the result, I can't see the sense in it. He was found guilty back then, and I think to change a ruling after so many years would open up a can of worms.
Rules are rules.
DeMont's lawyer, David Ulich, has said his client was happy that the USOC had agreed to issue a press release saying DeMont was an innocent victim. We view this as a stepping stone toward that goal. Ulich said having the medal restored would be a difficult process but refused to rule out the possibility it could happen.