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YEARS OF ANGRY DENIALS by one of the world's most celebrated athletes ended in tears on Friday when Jones admitted to drug cheating. -- PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - MARION Jones was once the world's fastest woman. On Friday, the truth caught up with her.
The American, once the charming glamour girl of world track and field, admitted that she had lied about using steroids.
Reversing years of vehement denials, the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators and admitted using steroids, which could cost her the five medals she won in the 2000 Olympics.
In a sober court hearing and a tear-filled appearance before the media, she admitted using performance-enhancing drugs before her dominant performance at the Sydney Olympics.
There, she charmed everyone with her smile and left with three golds and two bronzes.
On Friday, the smile was gone and in its place were tears.
'It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust,' she said outside the court, addressing her fans and family.
'I want you to know that I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me,' she added, breaking down in tears.
'I have let my country down, and I have let myself down.'
She told the court that she swallowed tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, also known as 'the clear' - as it could not be detected at that time - which was given to her by her former coach Trevor Graham.
'I consumed the substance several times before the Sydney Games,' Jones told US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, north of New York City.
'He told me to put it under my tongue and to swallow it. I continued to use this substance until July 2001.
'By November 2003, I realised that what Graham had given to me was a performance-enhancing drug.'
She pleaded guilty to two felonies - lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and lying to them about a separate cheque fraud case.
She is due to be sentenced on Jan 11. The two charges of lying to a federal agent carry a combined maximum sentence of 10 years.
In light of her plea agreement, prosecutors said they would consider a sentence of up to six months reasonable, but the sentencing judge is not bound by that recommendation.
She was released on bail and surrendered her US passport. She said she will also yield her passport from Belize, her mother's place of birth.
She later said that she was retiring athletics, ending a spectacular career in which she became the first woman to win five medals at a single Olympics.
She captured the gold in the 100 metres, 200m and 4x400m relay, and won the bronze in the long jump and 4x100m relay at the Sydney Games.
Jones, once hailed as the greatest woman athlete, was also an articulate pitchwoman who put a glamorous face on her sport.
She commanded millions in endorsements and appeared on magazine covers ranging from Sports Illustrated to Time to Vogue.
But, as she battled the doping accusations, she struggled on the track and saw invitations to prestigious competitions dwindle.
She, however, aggressively maintained her innocence.
She even sued Balco (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) founder Victor Conte - one of five men convicted in the case - for defamation over his accusations on US television that she was a drugs cheat, later settling out of court.
Earlier this year, Jones said she was virtually broke.
Her guilty plea, as well as her admission in court that she used performance-enhancing drugs provided by Graham, were big developments in the US government's case against Graham for making false statements to federal agents.
Graham's trial is scheduled to begin next month.
Jones said in court that from September 2000 until July 2001, Graham gave her a substance he told her was flaxseed oil.
But, after she stopped training with him in 2001, she realised it had been a performance-enhancing drug.
By the time she was interviewed in the Balco investigation in November 2003, she knew it was the designer steroid THG.
But she denied recognising the substance and taking it in that Balco interview.
'Both were lies,' Jones said.
She similarly admitted lying to federal officials investigating the bank fraud case in two separate interviews in August and September last year.
At that time, she denied receiving a fraudulent US$25,000 (S$37,000) cheque that she had endorsed and denied knowing about the involvement of her former boyfriend Tim Montgomery.
Montgomery is due to be sentenced next month, after pleading guilty in the money-laundering scheme.
The sprinter, who had his world 100m record stripped for doping, retired after being found guilty of using illegal steroids.
Perhaps the biggest consequences of Jones' sworn statements in court will be the damage they do to Graham, who has repeatedly denied providing his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.
However, Graham was also the coach of American sprinter Justin Gaitlin and shot putter C.J. Hunter, both of whom were also found guilty of doping.
Hunter was married to Jones and exposed as a drug cheat during the Sydney Olympics. He was there supporting her.
If Jones is called to testify at Graham's trial, she can no longer invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because she waived that with her guilty plea.
The twist to the downfall of Jones is that it was triggered by her involvement in the bank-fraud scheme.
E. Danya Perry, an assistant US attorney, told the judge there was ample evidence, including Jones' signature on the US$25,000 cheque and the testimony of other defendants in the case, many of whom have pleaded guilty.
The strength of the government's evidence in that case was used to persuade Jones to plead guilty to the false statements to the Balco investigators.
AFP, Reuters, NYT
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