Marion Jones, the track and field star from Thousand Oaks who won five medals and worldwide fame at the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, is expected today to become the most significant athlete to admit to using performance-enhancing drugs, after years of fiercely denying it.
Such an admission could lead to Jones' being stripped of those medals.
The 31-year-old sprinter is scheduled to appear in U.S. Southern District Court in New York to plead guilty to charges connected to her steroid use before the 2000 Games, a federal law enforcement source told the Associated Press on Thursday. The official would not provide details and spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The apparent plea bargain comes after years of accusations that Jones had boosted her performances with drugs, including an eyewitness account from Victor Conte, founder of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, that she used a steroid known as "the clear" and knew what it was. In 2003, BALCO's offices in Burlingame, Calif., were raided by federal investigators, and Conte later pleaded guilty to steroid distribution. Swept up in that scandal were a number of athletes, baseball star Barry Bonds and Jones among them.
In addition, Jones delivered a letter of apology to friends and family members, the Washington Post reported online Thursday. The newspaper said that in the letter, which it had not seen, Jones said she plans to plead guilty to two counts of lying to federal agents about her drug use and, in an unrelated case, for accepting a fraudulent check.
In the letter, which was read to the newspaper by a person who had received a copy of it, Jones reportedly said she indeed took BALCO's steroid known as "the clear" for two years beginning in 1999. A person familiar with Jones' legal situation and who requested anonymity confirmed the relevant facts in the letter, the Post said.
Attempts by The Times to reach Jones and her sprinter husband Obadele Thompson were unsuccessful, as were attempts to contact her personal attorney, Rich Nichols, her agent Charlie Wells and her former coaches, including Trevor Graham.
Darryl Seibel, a spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said the organization will intensely review any such plea bargain and could demand Jones return her medals.
"Doping is cheating and our position is unequivocal. It will absolutely not be tolerated," he said. "Any athlete who chooses to cheat is making a decision that is a complete contradiction to what the Olympic movement stands for."
