ATHENS, Greece - The International Olympic Committee’s decision to award Erin Mirabella a bronze medal gave the United States its biggest cycling medal haul since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Mirabella was named the medalist Sunday for the women’s points race, a decision that gave USA Cycling four medals in Athens. American riders took three medals away from both Atlanta and Sydney.

Mirabella finished behind Colombia’s Maria Luisa Calle Williams in Wednesday’s race. Williams, though, tested positive for Heptaminol, a prohibited stimulant that she denied taking. The Colombian Olympic Committee also said she tested negative in its post-race exam.

Still, the IOC stripped the Colombian of her medal and diploma and ordered them immediately returned.

It was unknown if Mirabella actually received the medal and diploma before leaving Greece. She was scheduled to travel to her Chula Vista, Calif. home from Athens on Monday and could not be reached for comment.

Williams had been Colombia’s only cycling medalist at the Athens Games, in which 19 nations were officially credited with at least one cycling medal.

Points racers score through their performances in sprints held every 10 laps; Mirabella scored three points in the first sprint, three more in the fifth, one in the eighth and two in the ninth for a total of 9 points.

The other three cycling medals won by Americans in Athens came in the road time trials, where Tyler Hamilton won gold, Dede Barry silver and Bobby Julich bronze.

American cyclists won nine medals at the 1984 Olympics, which were boycotted by Eastern Bloc nations — many of whom had powerful cycling programs. The only other Olympiad where U.S. riders won more than three medals was at St. Louis in 1904, when 21 medals went to Americans.

The decision also means the United States won at least one track cycling medal for the sixth straight Olympiad. It failed to medal in track cycling at Montreal in 1976, and boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

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