American sprinter Marion Jones reportedly admitted to taking steroids prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Summer Games.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Jones, who won five medals at Sydney, wrote in a letter to family and friends that she took "the clear" for two years, beginning in 1999.
Marion Jones reportedly admitted in a recent letter that she used steroids.
(D. Cummings/Associated Press)
Quoting a person who received a copy of the letter and read it to the newspaper, the Post reported that Jones stated: "I want to apologize for all of this. I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways."
Jones allegedly wrote in the letter that she received "the clear" from coach Trevor Graham, who told her it was flaxseed oil.
"Red flags should have been raised when he told me not to tell anyone," the Post reported, quoting Jones in the letter.
"The clear" is a performance-enhancing substance linked to Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), a pharmaceutical firm in San Francisco investigated for steroid distribution.
Jones further noted that she will plead guilty Friday in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her drug use and an unrelated financial matter.
"Once again, I panicked," the Post reported Jones as writing. "I did not want my name associated with this mess."
The newspaper claimed that an anonymous source familiar with Jones's legal entanglements confirmed the facts contained in the letter.
"If these reports are true, it is an admission of responsibility from an athlete who owed her sport and the Olympic movement much better," U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said.
"Anything that exposes the truth about drug use in sport is good for ensuring the integrity of sport," claimed Craig Masback, chief executive officer of USA Track and Field.
"Any use of performance-enhancing substances is a tragedy for the athlete, their teammates, friends, family and the sport. We await any further developments on this matter."
Testified in BALCO scandal
Jones was one of several high-profile athletes to testify before a grand jury seeking to indict BALCO founder Victor Conte in the autumn of 2003.
Conte served four months in prison for his role in the scandal, which prompted the International Olympic Committee to open an investigation on Dec. 7, 2004, into allegations that he supplied Jones with steroids.
Jones promptly filed a $25-million US defamation lawsuit against Conte, and reached a settlement on Feb. 5, 2006.
Six months later, she tested positive for EPO, a banned endurance-boosting hormone, at the U.S. track and field championships in Indianapolis, but was cleared of any wrongdoing when the "B" sample proved negative.
"Cheaters never win," said American relay specialist Jon Drummond, who won a gold medal at the Sydney Games.
"No matter how glorious or glamorous things look, you'll get caught and pay a price for it. It caught me by total surprise.
"I thought it was a closed case. It doesn't help track and field at all, except maybe by letting the world know people always get to the bottom of things.
"We shouldn't be afraid of the truth. But it's sad it came to this."
If true, Jones, one of the finest female sprinters of her generation, may be stripped of the medals (three gold, two bronze).
With files from the Associated Press