The US men's 4x100 metres sprint relay team has been stripped of the silver medals won at London 2012, in light of Tyson Gay's doping case.

The members of the US team, which placed second behind a Jamaican team anchored by Usain Bolt, was sent a letter by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) informing them that they had been disqualified and had to return all medals, it was announced on Wednesday.

"As expected, following USADA's decision in the Tyson Gay case, the IOC [Wednesday] confirmed that the US team has been disqualified from the 4x100-meter race that was part of the athletics competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games. We will begin efforts to have the medals returned, and support all measures to protect clean athletes," US Olympic Committee (USOC) chief communications and public affairs officer Patrick Sandusky said in a statement.

Under IOC rules, an entire team can be disqualified and stripped of its medals if one member is found to be doping or cheating in any way.

Gay had already returned his medal last year when he tested positive for steroids at the US championships in 2013. Because he co-operated with the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Gay received a one-year suspension, as opposed to the standard two-year ban. The other part of the ban included all of Gay's results going back to July 2012 being ruled null and void.

Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Ryan Bailey, Jeffery Demps and Darvis Patton are the other members of the team forced to forfeit its medals. Kimmons, Gatlin and Bailey ran in the final with Gay and set a US record of 37.04 seconds.

If the medals were reallocated, Trinidad and Tobago (38.12secs) would get the silver and France (38.16secs) would get the bronze.