Marion admits doping

Marion Jones

Sprint superstar Marion Jones, who has dodged doping allegations for years, has admitted using steroids before her triumphant 2000 Olympics campaign, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The Post, in a story posted on its website, said Jones had written to family and friends to tell them she would plead guilty on Friday to lying to federal agents about her drug use.
The New York Daily News, citing law enforcement sources, said Jones would appear in federal court in White Plains, New York, on Friday and plead guilty to two counts of lying to a federal agent.
The Post, citing a letter Jones had sent to "close family and friends," said the 31-year-old athlete admitted using a steroid in the build-up to the Sydney Games, where her five medals included three gold.
The Post reported that in the letter, Jones said she took the steroid produced by the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) known as "the clear" for two years beginning in 1999.
Jones, once hailed as the greatest woman athlete in the world, was one of many high-profile athletes who testified before the federal grand jury investigating BALCO, a probe that has resulted in five convictions.
Federal authorities fingered BALCO, supposedly a nutritional supplement laboratory, as the source of the designer steroid THG, which was known by the lab as "the clear."
Jones' former partner Tim Montgomery, with whom she has a son, was banished and his world 100m record run erased based on evidence collected in the BALCO probe.
Jones herself had steadfastly denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs, even as the BALCO-spawned suspicions swirled around her.
She sued BALCO founder Victor Conte - who was convicted of steroid peddling - for defamation over his accusations on US television that she was a drugs cheat, later settling out of court.
She struggled through doping accusations at the 2004 Olympic trials and flopped in Athens.
In 2005 Jones was snubbed by European meet directors, and a package of highlights at the opening ceremony for the athletics World Championships in Helsinki failed to include any of the four-time World Champion.
According to the Post, Jones says in her letter that her former coach Trevor Graham gave her the banned drug, telling her it was flaxseed oil.
"Red flags should have been raised when he told me not to tell anyone" Jones wrote.
Ironically, it was later learned that Graham was the anonymous tipster who sent a sample of "the clear" to anti-doping officials, who had it analyzed and discovered the previously unknown and undetectable THG.
Jones said that when federal investigators asked her if she had used "the clear" and shown her a sample of it, she panicked and said she hadn't, even though she recognized the product, the Post reported.
The maximum penalty for lying to a federal agent is five years in jail and a 250,000-dollar fine. The Post said Jones told friends she expected a sentence of up to six months, and the Daily News said Jones is not expected to serve more than a few months and could escape jail altogether.
The Post said Jones would also plead guilty to lying in an unrelated case involving a 25,000-dollar check given to her by Montgomery - who pleaded guilty in New York this year in a bank fraud scheme in which he received commissions for cashing worthless checks.
Jones was linked to doping again in 2006, when an A sample from a urine test during the US athletics trials showed signs of the blood booster erythropoietin. The backup sample was negative.
Jones, who now lives in Austin, Texas, and recently married ex-sprinter Obadele Thompson, said in documents filed in court this year that she was broke.
In a breach of contract lawsuit against coach Dan Pfaff, Jones, who once commanded millions in endorsements, has "total liquid assets throughout the world" of about 2,000 dollars.
USA Track and Field chief Craig Masback said he had no knowledge of any doping admission by Jones.
"Anything that exposes the truth about drug use in sport is good for ensuring the integrity of sport," Masback said in a statement. "While USATF has no knowledge of any letter or pending plea agreement regarding Marion Jones, we continue our long-stated support for the efforts of the US Anti-Doping Agency and the federal government in their investigations.
"Any use of performance-enhancing substances is a tragedy for the athlete, their teammates, friends, family and the sport. We await any further developments on this matter."
Robert Weiner, a former US government National Drug Policy spokesman, said Thursday that the disgraced sprinter should give back her medals and her backers should be prosecuted.
"Marion Jones should give back her five 2000 Olympic medals or the Olympics should force her to return them," said Weiner, who help co-ordinate White House drug policy for the Sydney Olympics and assisted in creating the World Anti-doping Agency. "Jones' guilt admission shows that not everything is a victory, especially when people control their own lives.
"But we have made huge progress given the fact that under the various forms of pressure Jones has to admit guilt.
"Everyone who assisted and supported her drug use, including her coach, should also be prosecuted. The Jones guilty plea and likely jail sentence should be a message to all other sports stars."