United States sprinter Marion Jones handed over her five medals from the 2000 Olympic Games to an official of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) on Monday.
Once the world’s fastest woman, Jones was hailed as the queen of the Sydney Games, where she won three gold medals, including the 100m, as well as two bronze medals.
”The outcome of this story is a valuable reminder that true athletic accomplishment is not obtained through cheating, and any medal acquired through doping is only fool’s gold,” Usada chief executive Travis Tygart said.
Usada said in a statement that she ”voluntarily relinquished to Usada and the United States Olympic Committee her five Olympic medals”. The handover took place in Austin, Texas, where the 31-year-old Jones lives.
On Friday, Jones admitted in federal court in New York that she had taken performance-enhancing steroids prior to the 2000 Games.
She entered a plea of guilty to providing false statements to federal investigators, to whom she lied when she denied using a designer steroid, known as THG or ”the clear”. Jones is scheduled for sentencing on January 11, when she could be ordered to serve up to six months in prison.
Jones was caught up in a 2004 federal investigation of Balco, a San Francisco-based laboratory that created and sold illicit drugs to numerous top professional athletes in the United States.
Usada’s statement said that the federal law-enforcement probe into the Balco case was ”greatly” appreciated by ”those who value clean sport”.
Tygart thanked federal officials for assisting his agency ”to hold accountable those who cheat their fellow competitors and sports fan by using performance-enhancing drugs”.
Jones, who previously announced her retirement from competition, has accepted a two-year ban, Usada said on Monday. — Sapa-dpa