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Report: Olympian Jones Admits Using Steroids

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By BOB BAUM, The Associated Press

Published: October 5, 2007

For years, Marion Jones angrily denied she was a drug cheat, swearing she was clean and daring anyone to prove otherwise.

Seven years after her triumphs at the 2000 Olympics, the three-time gold medalist has admitted in a recent letter to family and close friends that she used steroids before the Sydney Games, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

She's scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in White Plains, N.Y., today to plead guilty to charges in connection with her steroid use, a federal law enforcement source told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, and would not provide specific details about the plea.

'I want to apologize for all of this,' the Post reported Jones saying in her letter, quoting a person who received a copy and read it to the paper. 'I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways.'

Jones said in her letter that she faced up to six months in jail and would be sentenced in three months, according to the newspaper.

The admission also could cost Jones the five medals she won in Sydney, where she was the most celebrated female athlete of the games. She didn't win the five golds she wanted, but she came away with three and two bronzes, and her bright smile and charming personality made her a star.

No one answered the door at her home in Austin, Texas, Thursday evening, and a message left by the AP for a phone number registered to her husband, Obadele Thompson, was not immediately returned.

The triple gold medalist in Sydney said she took 'the clear' for two years, beginning in 1999, and that she got it from former coach Trevor Graham, who told her it was flaxseed oil, the newspaper reported.

'The clear' is a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports. Home run king Barry Bonds, New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi and Detroit Tigers outfielder Gary Sheffield all have been linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and were among more than two dozen athletes who testified before a federal grand jury in 2003.

Bonds denied ever knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs, saying he believed a clear substance and a cream, given to him by his trainer, were flaxseed oil and an arthritis balm.

Until now, Jones had denied doping, even suing BALCO founder Victor Conte in 2004 for $25 million. Conte repeatedly accused Jones of using performance-enhancing drugs and said he watched her inject herself.

'It cost me a lot of money to defend myself,' Conte said Thursday. 'But I told the truth then, and I'm telling it now.'

In her letter, Jones said she didn't realize she'd used performance-enhancing drugs until she stopped training with Graham at the end of 2002. She said she lied when federal agents questioned her in 2003, panicking when they presented her with a sample of 'the clear,' which she recognized as the substance Graham had given her.

USA Track & Field was not aware of Jones' letter nor any pending legal action, CEO Craig Masback said.

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