Marion Jones surrenders medals from 2000 Games
09.10.2007 00:00
Sport and Travel
- Source: USA Today
Marion Jones, who Friday pled guilty to two counts of lying to federal investigators and acknowledged performance drug use, has returned the three gold and two bronze medals she earned at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
GUILTY PLEA: Tearful Jones announces illegal steriod useSARACENO: Returning medals right thing to do "The medals have been returned," Henry DePippo, one of Jones' lawyers, confirmed to USA TODAY. DePippo declined to say where the medals were sent. Reuters was the first to report the medals had been returned. In a teleconference Monday night, USOC officials said the medals were picked up earlier in the day in Austin, Texas, by a representative of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. USADA then turned over the medals to the USOC in Colorado Springs, Colo. A USOC official, however, was also in Austin. Also in the teleconference, USOC chair Peter Ueberroth and CEO Jim Scherr said they would seek the return of medals from Jones' relay teammates from the Sydney Games. Jones was part of the gold-medal winning team in the 4x400 relay and won the bronze in the 4x100 relay in 2000. Jones also won the 100 meters and 200 in addition to taking third in the long jump in Sydney. Ueberroth last weekend had called upon Jones to return the medals after her admission in U.S. District Court that she had used a steroid prior to the Sydney Games and into 2001. The U.S. could lose the team medals in those events. However, there is also precedent the teams could keep their medals. The International Olympic Committee allowed the U.S. men's 4x400 team in 2000 to keep their medals after they stripped Jerome Young of his because Young competed illegally after a positive test for testosterone in 1999. Ueberroth and Scherr, however, said there is a difference between the relays. Young ran only in qualifying. Jones ran in the final, which the USOC says taints the medal.
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