Marion fights anti-doping probe
She won an unprecedented five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and in celebrating the feat draped herself in the Belize flag. But tonight world champion sprinter Marion Jones is trying to overcome a hurdle that is threatening to keep her out of the summer games in Athens. The United States Anti-Doping Agency is investigating Jones and other athletes for the possible use of banned performance enhancing substances. Jones, who was named Belize’s Ambassador for Sports after the Sydney Olympics, met with investigators last month. But a letter from the Agency last week asked follow up questions which prompted the easy going athlete to take the offensive in her battle with the U.S.A.D.A. At a press conference in San Francisco this week, Jones dismissed questions raised about her success as a runner saying that everything she has accomplished can be attributed to her God-given abilities and hard work.
Marion Jones, World Track Champion
?There exists no one who can truthfully testify that I have ever used performance enhancing drugs, simply for the reason that I never have. Despite all of its leaks and rumour-mongering, U.S.A.D.A. has yet to produce a single shred of credible information against me. These are the facts. I have done all that I can do. I should have been cleared a long time ago. Instead, the only thing that U.S.A.D.A. appears to be doing is trying to secretly change the standards of proof and the process that applies in these types of matters in the middle of the game so they can achieve the U.S.A.D.A. desired result. I feel like I was asked to run the hundred meters and after the race they told me that I did not win because my form was bad. Let me be clear, I am more than happy to answer every question, but I am not going to engage in U.S.A.D.A.’s secret kangaroo court. I will answer U.S.A.D.A.’s questions in a public forum that would be open for the entire world to see, hear, and evaluate.
Jones has been seeking to have prosecutors release her grand jury testimony in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case, but is not having much success. The World Anti-Doping Agency chief, Dick Pound, today rebuffed Jones’s call for a public hearing calling her Wednesday press conference a “grandstand performance,” and accusing the Olympic medallist of trying to subvert proper anti-doping hearing procedures. Pound denied that Jones and other U.S. athletes were the target of a “witch hunt,” saying, “the rights of any athletes are more than fully protected.” The Belize-American has vowed to fight any U.S.A.D.A. charges. At least four other athletes, including Jones’s boyfriend, Tim Montgomery, have been notified by the U.S.A.D.A. that the agency is pursuing possible drug cases against them that could result in disqualification from the Athens Games. Under W.A.D.A. and U.S.A.D.A. rules, an athlete does not have to test positive to be banned from competition as drug violations need only to be proven “to the comfortable satisfaction” of the panel hearing the case.
