Marion Jones ends career after guilty plea

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Track-and-field standout Marion Jones pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Friday to two counts of lying to federal investigators and admitted taking steroids before the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Jones, who was flanked by two attorneys and had her mother nearby, said she used the steroid known as "the clear" from September 2000 through July 2001.

"I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Games and continued using it afterward," Jones told the court.

Jones, 31, later announced her retirement during a tearful apology outside the courthouse.

Jones is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11, and sentencing guidelines call for her to receive up to six months in jail.

Her public admission seemingly sets the stage for Jones to be stripped of the three gold and two bronze medals she won in Sydney. In the past, Jones had vehemently denied using steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs.

With her mother's hand resting on her arm, Jones broke down in tears several times as she spoke to media after the hearing.

"It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust," Jones said. "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. 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."

Jones, who didn't take questions, embraced her mother, Marion Toler, who told her, "Good job."

Jones, who recently married former sprinter Obadele Thompson, traveled to New York from her home in Austin, Texas, for the court appearance.

The International Olympic Committee opened an investigation into doping allegations against Jones in December 2004; IOC officials said they will step up their probe and move to strip her of her medals.

"Her admission is long overdue and underscores the shame and dishonor that are inherent with cheating," said Peter Ueberroth, U.S. Olympic Committee chairman, 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."

The Washington Post reported Jones had sent a letter to friends and family telling them of her plans for Friday's plea hearing. In the courtroom, Jones repeated the assertion she made in the letter that her former coach, Trevor Graham, gave her the substance, telling her it was the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil.

The clear, also known as THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone, is a powerful anabolic steroid that was at the center of the federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, or BALCO, of Burlingame, Calif. More than a dozen track-and-field athletes have faced punishments for their use of the clear, which drug-testing authorities were unable to detect until Graham sent a sample of it to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in 2003.

Of Graham, Jones said, "By November 2003, I realized he was giving me performance-enhancing drugs."