Ethics Newsline®

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.
Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones, who for years adamantly denied steroid use and publicly chided critics, last week pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about doping.

Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Olympics, confessed that she took banned steroids before the event. In an emotional press conference after entering her plea, Jones said, “I want to you know I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me.”

She also announced that her track career is over, UPI reports.

She was linked to the current wave of steroid allegations sweeping through the sports world by her connection to BALCO, a San Francisco-area laboratory raided by law enforcement in 2003, according to Newsweek. Her name was on a client list seized by investigators, and she was one of dozens of top athletes, including home run king Barry Bonds, who was summoned to testify before a federal grand jury investigating BALCO’s alleged connection to doping.

According to an analysis from National Public Radio’s Deborah Tedford, Jones’s admission was stunning because she had denied so unequivocally that she cheated her way to her three gold and two bronze medals.

“She went on the offensive in 2004, launching a high-profile public relations campaign when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency began investigating her,” Tedford writes. “She also filed a $25 million lawsuit against the owner of BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, who admitted during a grand jury probe that he provided Jones with steroids. That case was later settled.”

Jones reportedly returned her five medals on Monday, though the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it could not verify the surrender. The IOC last week said it would move swiftly to strip her of the medals, according to USA Today.

After entering her plea in a White Plains, New York, courthouse, Jones was released on her own recognizance and ordered to appear for sentencing on January 11. She also faces sentencing on an unrelated fraud case that became linked to the steroid probe when she admitted lying to a federal agent about it.

Jones, who lives in Texas, has agreed to testify against others in the case. Prosecutors have indicated they would consider a relatively light sentence — in the three-to-six-month range — reports the Houston Chronicle. The sentencing judge is not bound by that recommendation.