WASHINGTON -- Marion Jones has accepted a two-year ban and returned the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics, days after admitting she used performance-enhancing drugs, according to an Associated Press report.
US runner Marion Jones shows the gold medal won in the women's 100 meters race at the Olympic Games in Sydney, in this September 23, 2000 file photo. Jones, who pleaded guilty on October 5, 2007 has reportedly accepted a two-year ban and returned the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics. [Agencies] |
The report quoted Jones' lawyer, Henry DePippo, as saying on Monday that she had relinquished the medals, but declined to say to whom they were given.
The normal protocol would be for Jones to give them to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which then would return them to the International Olympic Committee, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said, according to the AP report.
"The IOC wants to move forward as quickly as possible in getting the facts and sorting out all the issues from the BALCO case," Davies was quoted as saying.
Jones pleaded guilty Friday to lying to U.S. government investigators about doping, saying she'd taken a designer steroid from September 2000 to July 2001.
