For 24 years, the robbery of Arizona swim coach Rick DeMont has gone unsolved.

In 1972, at the at the Summer Olympic games in Munich, DeMont was a lanky 16-year-old competing in the 400-meter freestyle. He defeated Australian Brad Cooper by just 0.01 seconds to win a gold medal.

However, DeMont was forced to return his medal after failing a drug test. Faint traces of the banned substance ephedrine were found in his body. DeMont was taking asthma medication that contained the ephedrine and said he notified the proper officials before the race that he was taking the medication.

So, as he has done for the last 24 years, DeMont petitioned for the return of his medal.

On Monday, DeMont's appeal was rejected again.

My question is: Why?

Prince Alexandre de Merode, the International Olympic Committee's medical commission chairman, told the Associated Press that there was no reason to reopen the case. What are they afraid of? Admitting that they were wrong?

It is time to give DeMont the medal he earned fair and square 24 years ago in Germany. I doubt the ephedrine really enhanced his performance that much. For goodness sakes, he only beat the guy by one-one hundredth of a second. Maybe I just don't buy that a 16-year-old kid knew enough about ephedrine to take so much that it would enhance his performance.

DeMont didn't let the experience slow him in the pool or out. In 1972, he was the world record holder in the 1500 meters. He was also the first man to ever swim the 400 meters in less than four minutes. In 1973, he shattered the world record in that event. Four years later, he broke the record again. He was the fastest man in the event for four years, and you're going to try and tell me that he needed his performance enhanced. I just don't buy it. The only way he could've swam any faster was if he was a fish.

DeMont also pioneered what is known as "negative-split swimming." The idea behind negative-split swimming is swimming a faster second half of a race than the first. For all his accomplishments, DeMont was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

There are cases involving athletes that were definitely taking performance enhancers and should have been punished accordingly. Take, for instance, Ben Johnson. In 1988, the Canadian sprinter won gold in the 100 meters at the Seoul Olympics. He had broken the world record thereby earning the mythical title "World's Fastest Human." But afterwards the world learned that Johnson was taking anabolic steroids. He was stripped of his medal and the victory went to American sprinter Carl Lewis.

Johnson made a huge mistake. DeMont just wanted to breathe properly.

When DeMont gave up his medal, he was the first American to do so since Jim Thorpe was forced to give up his medals from the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. It was discovered after the Games that Thorpe had received money for playing baseball, therefore he was no longer an amateur. Thorpe was considered by many to be the greatest athlete of the first half-century, but it still took the Olympic Committee more than 70 years to give the medals back to the Thorpe family.

DeMont shouldn't have to wait that long.

Craig Degel is a journalism sophomore and assistant sports editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat.