LONDON -- The IOC is stepping up the pressure for action on drug allegations against Olympic gold medalist Jerome Young.

In a letter to the World Anti-Doping Agency, the IOC proposed the two organizations set up a panel to jointly investigate allegations the U.S. sprinter competed in the 2000 Olympics despite a positive test a year earlier.

The case could result in the loss of a U.S. Olympic relay gold medal.

"In combining the experience and force of both organizations, the IOC believes that better results can be achieved," the IOC said in a statement.

Last week, IOC president Jacques Rogge sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee and track's world governing body "strongly urging" them to investigate.

"The letter to WADA is a further step highlighting the importance that the IOC gives to this case," the IOC said in Monday's statement.

Dick Pound, head of the anti-doping agency, was out of the office and unavailable for comment Monday due to the Labor Day holiday.

The letter was sent a day after Young won his second gold medal at the World Championships, anchoring the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team to victory in the final race of the meet in France. He earlier won the individual 400-meter title.

Young tested positive for steroids in 1999, but was cleared on appeal by U.S. track officials and allowed to compete in Sydney, the Los Angeles Times reported last week. He won gold as a member of the relay team.

Young has said he "never committed a doping offense." The statement from him released last week stopped short of a denial that he was the unidentified Olympic gold medalist exonerated of a drug offense before the Sydney Games.

Pound has called for the U.S. team to be stripped of the Olympic medal, saying the allegations against Young "shattered" the legitimacy of the victory.

But the International Association of Athletics Federations, track's governing body, said it couldn't take action without a "clear and verifiable" admission from the athlete involved.

USATF had refused to provide information on the 1999 case to the IAAF, citing confidentiality rules. The dispute went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled in January that USATF did not have to disclose details of that case and 12 other positive tests from 1996-2000.

Young ran the first leg in the opening round and semifinal heats of the relay in Sydney but didn't run in the final. The U.S. team, anchored by Michael Johnson, finished ahead of the Jamaicans and Russians.