The second sample for sprinter Marion Jones’ doping test was negative, clearing the five-time Olympic champion of the latest allegations that she used performance-enhancing drugs, her attorneys said on Wednesday night.
”I am absolutely ecstatic,” Jones said in a statement released by her lawyers. ”I have always maintained that I have never ever taken performance enhancing drugs, and I am pleased that a scientific process has now demonstrated that fact.”
Jones tested positive for the synthetic hormone EPO on June 23. She withdrew from a meet in Switzerland last month and shortly after that, reports of a positive test were revealed.
The test of the second sample, conducted at the same UCLA lab that did the first test, came back negative, however, meaning the 30-year-old sprinter has been cleared of any wrongdoing. She faced a minimum two-year ban. – Sapa-AP