Marion Jones admitted using steroids before the 2000 Olympics in a recent letter to close family and friends, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Jones, a 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, the newspaper reported. Graham told her it was flaxseed oil.

"The clear" is a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

Until now, Jones had steadfastly denied she ever took any kind of performance-enhancing drugs.

Jones is scheduled to appear in US. District Court in White Plains, N.Y., on Friday 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.


"Red flags should have been raised when he told me not to tell anyone," the Post reported, quoting the letter.

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

The admission could cost Jones the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics. Though she fell short of her goal of winning five gold medals, she came away with three and two bronzes and was one of the Games' biggest stars

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=3049333

What a shame. . . . . . . and she always looked so innocent, original and drug-free!

what was she waiting for after all these years. too bad it is so late cos she is so rusty. she wld have served her ban years back and wld have raced over and over again now

Her Ex-husband once said it , but people thought he was only Jealous of her, but it is good as she has accepted the fact that she was on steriod.

Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones has handed over the medals she won at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the US Anti-Doping Agency has announced.
Jones has also accepted a two-year ban, although she announced her retirement last week when she admitted taking steroids to a New York court.

Jones confessed that she had taken tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) from September 2000 through to July 2001.

The 31-year-old won three golds and two bronzes at the Sydney Games.

The golds came in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4x400m relay, with bronzes in the long jump and the 4x100m relay.

Jones has said the THG she took, also known as "the clear" because it did not show up in doping tests, came from the San Francisco Balco laboratory that was at the centre of US sport's biggest doping scandal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/7034841.stm

And to think she gave everyone the impression that she had a squeaky clean slate i dont like self-righteous people sha but its sad because she had the chance to be a real legend

Jones Surrenders Olympic Medals

The three gold medals and two bronzes were turned over to U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials at her attorneys' office in Austin, Texas. They are en route to USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs, and the USOC will return them to the International Olympic Committee.

"We've done what we can," said Jim Scherr, the USOC's chief executive officer. "We caught the person who was not clean. We've got the medals in our possession, and we will return them to IOC."

Jones won golds in the 100 and 200 meters, as well as the 1,600 relay. She won bronzes in the 400 relay and the long jump. It will be up to the IOC to decide what to do with the medals and whether to vacate Jones' results from Sydney - which could cost her relay teammates medals, too.

Scherr and USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth both said they would support the IOC nullifying the relay results, and encouraged the other Americans to give back their medals.

Jearl Miles-Clark, Monique Hennagan, Tasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson all won golds as part of the 1,600-meter relay. Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson were on the 400-meter relay team.

Both Edwards and Gaines have served doping bans since the 2000 Olympics.

"It's our opinion when any sporting event is won unfairly, it's completely tarnished and should be returned. The relay events were won unfairly," Ueberroth said. "It's very unfortunate, but your result involved cheating, so the result is unfair to the other athletes of the world."

Jones pleaded guilty Friday to lying to federal investigators about using steroids, saying she'd taken designer steroid "the clear" from September 2000 to July 2001. "The clear" has been linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

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Talk about 419 medals

she is a disgrace. . . . . .global edition

Real 419 medals. When her ex-husband tattled on her, I thought it was the antics of a scorned man, and was even happy for her when she was exonerated the 2nd time her test came out negative. I was surprised when she finally confessed that she took drugs prior to the olympics. Why did she come out now to confess after she had basked in the public adulation of her questionable and unmerited medals. Now, we know better. I also blame the extremely competitive nature of America, which in their bid to assume a dominant place in the globe, pressure kids to excel beyond their capability. Hence, some cave into such demands by taking alternative routes.

Shame on blacks. Must we always be the major culprits in this shit?