**UPDATE** Marion, Did Not Waste Time Returning the Medals!!

Marion Jones Returns Five Medals from Sydney Games
Date: Monday, October 08, 2007
credit: blackamericaweb.com


(AP) Her reputation is gone and now so are Marion Jones' Olympic medals. Jones gave back the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics on Monday and agreed to forfeit all other results dating back to Sept. 1, 2000, further punishment for her admission that she was a drug cheat.

The three gold medals and two bronzes were turned over by her attorneys in Austin, Texas. They are en route to U.S. Olympic Committee 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."

Fielding a clean team is a priority for a country trying to improve its image in the Olympic movement -- not to mention win the 2016 Games -- and USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth pledged Monday that the U.S. team at next summer's Beijing Olympics will be drug-free.

But when American stars like Jones or Athens gold medalist Justin Gatlin get busted, it doesn't help the cause. Gatlin is facing a ban of up to eight years after testing positive for testosterone and other steroids in April 2006 -- one month before tying the then 100-meter world record.

"Even though it is a negative going back, this will be viewed as positive in our commitment to fielding a clean team," Scherr said of Jones' punishment

*********

I hate to see Marion have to go through this, but she'll be fine.

I guess she just wants to get it over with...no use in puttin off the inevitable.

She stepped up to the plate, better than the men I've seen!

Ivent

Shocked, But Not Surprised...

MARION JONES ADMITS TO STEROID USE: Former track star said she took 'the clear' for two years thinking it was flaxseed oil.
(October 5, 2007) (source story, image: eurweb.com)
The five medals won by Marion Jones in Sydney may be in jeopardy after the track sprinter sent a letter to close family and friends admitting that she used steroids before the 2000 Olympics.

Jones said she took "the clear" for two years, beginning in 1999, and that she received it from former coach Trevor Graham, who told her it was flaxseed oil, reports the Washington Post.
"The clear" is a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of a federal steroids investigation. Until now, Jones had repeatedly denied she ever took any form of performance-enhancing drugs.

Jones said she will plead guilty today in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her drug use and an unrelated financial matter, the Post reported.
"I want to apologize for all of this," the Post reported her saying, quoting a person who received a copy of the letter and read it to the paper. "I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways."

Jones won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she emerged as one of the United States' brightest stars. But her reputation took a hit in subsequent years by repeated allegations of steroid use.

In her letter, Jones said she lied when she was questioned in 2003 by federal agents investigating BALCO, (the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative). Jones said she panicked when agents presented her with a sample of "the clear," which she recognized as the substance Graham had given her.

In the letter, Jones said she didn't realize she'd used a performance-enhancing drug until she stopped training with Graham at the end of 2002.
"Red flags should have been raised when he told me not to tell anyone," the Post reported, quoting the letter.

**********************

Keeping it real, are we really surprised at this revelation?

Do we understand the pressure these athletes are under, to perform at their optimal best?

Having said that, I find it hard to believe she didn't push back when Graham said do not "tell anyone." Red flags, sirens, burglar alarms, car alarms, fireworks, WOMEN'S INTUITION all of those signals went off-unless you're a sociopathic serial killer-because you have a conscious.

She should have kept it real and said she just chose to ignore that gnawing feeling that told her "something wasn't right."

I don't know what her motive is for stepping up, but she should also give those medals back. She didn't earn them honestly.

You all better recognize-what goes on in the dark, shall come to light.

Ivent