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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Marion Jones fails dope test!</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>AFP
Saturday, August 19, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) - US sprinter Marion Jones failed a drug test at the national athletics championships in Indianpolis in June, the Washington Post reported on its website yesterday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Quoting "sources with knowledge of the test results", the newspaper said the five-time Olympic medallist had tested positive for the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO), although the result remained unconfirmed pending analysis of the "B" sample.<P class=StoryText align=justify>USA Track and Field declined to comment on the report.
"We would refer any question about domestic doping cases to the US Anti-Doping Agency," said USATF spokesperson Jill Geer.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) could not immediately be reached.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Organisers of yesterday's Golden League meeting in Zurich said Jones had withdrawn at the last minute for "personal reasons".<P class=StoryText align=justify>Hansjorg Wirz, who is also head of the European Athletics Association, said Jones "received a phone call from the United States this morning and left for personal reasons".
"She was already on the plane when we got this information," Wirz said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jones, 30, won five medals, including three gold, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but has been shadowed by doping allegations raised in the criminal investigation of the BALCO laboratory prior to the 2004 Athens Games.<P class=StoryText align=justify>She has vehemently denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, and has never before tested positive nor faced a formal doping charge.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Although never convicted of a doping offence, she was effectively declared persona non-grata in Europe last season after being linked to the BALCO scandal.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Her former partner Tim Montgomery, who is the father of Jones' young son, was banished and his world 100m record run erased based on evidence collected in the BALCO case.
But Jones has soldiered on, and mounted a comeback this season that she has said she hopes will see her contend at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the Golden League meeting in Paris on July 8, Jones broke the 11-second barrier for the first time since 2002 to win the women's 100m in 10.92sec.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At a meeting in London last month, Jones said she believed she could be a force at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"It's been a tough time for me, but I have faith in God and the people who support me," Jones said at a meeting in England last month.
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>AFP
Saturday, August 19, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) - US sprinter Marion Jones failed a drug test at the national athletics championships in Indianpolis in June, the Washington Post reported on its website yesterday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Quoting "sources with knowledge of the test results", the newspaper said the five-time Olympic medallist had tested positive for the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO), although the result remained unconfirmed pending analysis of the "B" sample.<P class=StoryText align=justify>USA Track and Field declined to comment on the report.
"We would refer any question about domestic doping cases to the US Anti-Doping Agency," said USATF spokesperson Jill Geer.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) could not immediately be reached.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Organisers of yesterday's Golden League meeting in Zurich said Jones had withdrawn at the last minute for "personal reasons".<P class=StoryText align=justify>Hansjorg Wirz, who is also head of the European Athletics Association, said Jones "received a phone call from the United States this morning and left for personal reasons".
"She was already on the plane when we got this information," Wirz said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jones, 30, won five medals, including three gold, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but has been shadowed by doping allegations raised in the criminal investigation of the BALCO laboratory prior to the 2004 Athens Games.<P class=StoryText align=justify>She has vehemently denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, and has never before tested positive nor faced a formal doping charge.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Although never convicted of a doping offence, she was effectively declared persona non-grata in Europe last season after being linked to the BALCO scandal.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Her former partner Tim Montgomery, who is the father of Jones' young son, was banished and his world 100m record run erased based on evidence collected in the BALCO case.
But Jones has soldiered on, and mounted a comeback this season that she has said she hopes will see her contend at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the Golden League meeting in Paris on July 8, Jones broke the 11-second barrier for the first time since 2002 to win the women's 100m in 10.92sec.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At a meeting in London last month, Jones said she believed she could be a force at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"It's been a tough time for me, but I have faith in God and the people who support me," Jones said at a meeting in England last month.