**UPDATE: Marion Jones' Confessed Steroid Use (video after story)

Jones Quits Track Over Steroid Case
credits: AOL Sports- (edited for content by Ivent)

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Oct. 5) - Marion Jones' voice never wavered, her reserve never faltered as the words rang out in the silent, stately federal courtroom. (marion jones and mother to the courtroom)

She was a liar and a cheat, she told the judge, her eyes never straying from his face. And so ended years of angry denials by one of the world's most celebrated athletes.

The owner of three Olympic golds and two bronze medals, Jones came clean Friday and admitted she used steroids. She pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs, then announced her retirement in a tearful apology outside the U.S. District Court.

"It's with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust," Jones said, her voice cracking as her mother stood behind her, a strong and supportive hand on her shoulder."I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let (my family) down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down," she said, pausing frequently to regain her composure. "I recognize that by saying I'm deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and hurt that I've caused you."Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."The calm strength she'd displayed in the courtroom was gone, washed away by a flood of tears. She embraced her mother, who told her daughter, "Good job."

The two then climbed into a black limousine with one of Jones' attorneys and drove away, not taking any questions.Jones was released on her own recognizance and was due back in court Jan. 11 for sentencing."It's bittersweet," said Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. "
Any time a potential American hero admits to cheating us sports fans, people who watch Olympic games, it's bittersweet."Indeed, Friday marked a stunning fall from grace for the 31-year-old Jones, once the symbol for everything that was right about women in sports. She was powerful, captivating the country with the audacious goal of winning an unprecedented five gold medals at the Sydney Olympics. But she was beautiful and feminine, too, gracing the cover of Vogue with the poise of a supermodel.

Marion Jones isn't the only track and field athlete embroiled in controversy over performance-enhancing drugs.

Though she fell short in Sydney — only three of her five medals were gold, the other two bronze — her winsome smile and charming personality made her a star.

Seven years later, she is broke, her reputation is ruined and she is looking at prison time.Jones also pleaded guilty to a second count of lying to investigators about her association with a check-fraud scheme."You're vindicated, but it doesn't make you feel any happier this is going on," said Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"The fact that she was using the performance-enhancing drugs is not a surprise. People suspected strongly or knew, but couldn't prove the use."When something seems too good to be true, it probably is."
Jones is the biggest name to be brought down so far in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal. But home run king Barry Bonds also has been linked to BALCO, and a grand jury is still investigating whether he lied to federal investigators.Bonds denied ever knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs.

In testimony before a grand jury in 2003, Bonds said he believed a clear substance and a cream given to him by his trainer were flaxseed oil and an arthritis balm."The federal government will vigorously prosecute individuals who provide false statements to its agents," said Scott N. Schools, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.

Suspicions and doping allegations had dogged Jones for years. Her ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, was busted for doping, and Tim Montgomery, the father of her son Monty, was stripped of his world record in the 100 meters in connection with the BALCO case.Jones herself was one of the athletes who testified before a grand jury in 2003 in the BALCO investigation. In August 2006, one of her urine samples tested positive for EPO, but she was cleared when a backup sample tested negative.But Jones vehemently denied all doping allegations, even issuing this emphatic declaration in 2004: "I have never, ever used performance-enhancing drugs."

She also sued BALCO founder Victor Conte after he repeatedly accused Jones of using performance-enhancing drugs and said he watched her inject herself.That anger and defiance was nowhere to be seen Friday.Even Conte had sympathy for Jones."I don't feel any sense of vindication," he said. "All of us have made poor decisions in our lives and suffered the consequences."Flanked by her attorneys and with her mother a few feet away, Jones sat perfectly straight as she acknowledged her crimes. Speaking into a microphone, her voice was crystal clear when she admitted lying to a federal investigator in November 2003 when he asked if she had used performance-enhancing drugs."I answered that I had not. This was a lie, your honor," she said.

Jones said she took steroids from September 2000 to July 2001 and said she was told by her then-coach Trevor Graham that she was taking flaxseed oil when it was actually "the clear." That's a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

"I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after," Jones told the judge. "By November 2003, I realized he was giving me performance-enhancing drugs."She said she "felt different, trained more intensely" and experienced "faster recovery and better times" while using the substance.

"He told me to put it under my tongue for a few seconds and swallow it," she said. "He told me not to tell anyone."A Sept. 3, 2003, search warrant at BALCO uncovered ledgers, purchases, doping calendars, and various blood-test results connected to Jones and Graham, said Matt Parrella, a federal prosecutor in Northern California.

In the check-fraud scheme, Jones admitted lying about her knowledge of the involvement of Montgomery in a scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged checks. Montgomery; Jones' longtime agent Charles Wells; and a former coach, Olympian Steve Riddick, have all been convicted in the scam."This is a sad day for sport. The only good that can be drawn from today's revelations is that her decision to finally admit the truth will play we hope, a key part in breaking the back of the BALCO affair," IOC president Jacques Rogge said.

Prosecutors have suggested to Jones that the prison term will be a maximum of six months, although the judge has the discretion to change that. The maximum sentence on each count is five years and a $250,000 fine, for a total of 10 years and $500,000.

In addition to losing her freedom, she is almost certain to lose her medals, too.The International Olympic Committee opened an investigation into doping allegations against Jones in December 2004, and said Friday it will step up its probe and move quickly to strip her of her medals."Her admission is long overdue and underscores the shame and dishonor that are inherent with cheating," U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said in a statement.

"As further recognition of her complicity in this matter, Ms. Jones should immediately step forward and return the Olympic medals she won while competing in violation of the rules."In Jones' case, that would include the 2000 Olympics, where she won gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay.

"I am responsible fully for my actions. I have no one to blame but myself for what I've done," she said. "Making the wrong choices and bad decisions can be disastrous."

AP Sports Writers Stephen Wilson in London, Dave Skretta in White Plains, N.Y., Bob Baum in Phoenix and Joedy McCreary in Raleigh, N.C., and Associated Press Writers Pat Milton in White Plains, N.Y., and Paul Elias in San Francisco also contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

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What Marion did was very uncool, but I have to give her credit for the press conference she gave after her testimony. Very "grace under fire." I believe in the power of confession-to God Almight first, and then others. Once you know God's forgiveness is upon you, and He's on your side you're prepared to endure the fallout. Upon watching Marion's press conference, I was very surprised to find myself sniffing, and tears welling in my eyes. Still she should relinquish the medals since she had "assistance" in order to win.

I believe she's sincere (this time). What a price she's going to pay. God bless her.

See for yourself-Ivent: