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New York Times
August 19, 2006
Jones Is Said to Have Failed Drug Test in June
By LYNN ZINSER
Marion Jones failed a drug test at the United States track and field championships in June, according to three people briefed on the test results.
Only Jones’s A sample has been tested, and if her B sample also tests positive for drugs, Jones would face a two-year suspension. She has been dogged by rumors about drug use for several years, but she had never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
The three people briefed on the results said the substance found in Jones’s urine sample was the blood-boosting drug EPO, which is normally used by endurance athletes, not sprinters like Jones. The people were granted anonymity because United States antidoping rules prohibit the release of results until both samples are tested and the results are verified by a review board.
Jones, 30, left a meet in Zurich after receiving a late-night telephone call from the United States, according to meet organizers. Her agent, Charles Wells, told the meet director only that Jones’s departure was for personal reasons.
“We feel very bad about it,” a meet spokesman, Christoph Schmid, said. “We tried to get more information, but that is all they told us.”
Wells, who was registered at a Zurich hotel, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Richard Nichols, one of Jones’s lawyers.
The positive test on Jones’s A sample has been reported to track and field’s international federation, the I.A.A.F., and USA Track & Field, according to those who were briefed on the results. The test was administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which will also be in charge of the testing of the B sample; that testing is expected to take place soon.
United States antidoping officials refused to comment on the case, which is its normal procedure until an athlete receives a hearing. Officials of USA Track & Field and the United States Olympic Committee also declined to comment.
Jones has vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She was implicated in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid investigation, but she was never charged. Her first husband, the shot-putter C. J. Hunter, reportedly told the grand jury investigating Balco that Jones had used drugs. Jones also had a relationship with the sprinter Tim Montgomery, who has been barred as a result of grand jury testimony about drug use. Jones and Montgomery have a son.
At the height of the Balco investigation in 2004, Jones’s performances fell off sharply. She was the toast of the track world in 2000, when she won five medals at the Sydney Olympics, including gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters. But she qualified only the 4x100 relay for the 2004 Athens Games. Jones and Lauryn Williams botched a handoff, and the United States team did not win a medal.
Injuries curtailed her 2005 season, as did several meet directors, including the one in Zurich; they refused to invite her to compete because of the drug suspicions.
Jones was making a successful comeback this year. After only a few races, including one at a meet on Randalls Island in New York, Jones won the 100 at the national championships in Indianapolis. She also raced at several European meets this summer, lowering her time in the 100 to 10.91 seconds, her best time in nearly five years, at the Golden Gala meet in July in Rome.
Earlier this summer, a meet director in Berlin said that Jones, and any other athlete associated with the coach Trevor Graham, would not be invited to run there. Jones no longer trains under him. Graham coaches Justin Gatlin, who shares the world record in the men’s 100 with Asafa Powell of Jamaica. Graham has come under increasing fire since Gatlin became the seventh of his athletes to face doping suspensions.
August 19, 2006
Jones Is Said to Have Failed Drug Test in June
By LYNN ZINSER
Marion Jones failed a drug test at the United States track and field championships in June, according to three people briefed on the test results.
Only Jones’s A sample has been tested, and if her B sample also tests positive for drugs, Jones would face a two-year suspension. She has been dogged by rumors about drug use for several years, but she had never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
The three people briefed on the results said the substance found in Jones’s urine sample was the blood-boosting drug EPO, which is normally used by endurance athletes, not sprinters like Jones. The people were granted anonymity because United States antidoping rules prohibit the release of results until both samples are tested and the results are verified by a review board.
Jones, 30, left a meet in Zurich after receiving a late-night telephone call from the United States, according to meet organizers. Her agent, Charles Wells, told the meet director only that Jones’s departure was for personal reasons.
“We feel very bad about it,” a meet spokesman, Christoph Schmid, said. “We tried to get more information, but that is all they told us.”
Wells, who was registered at a Zurich hotel, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Richard Nichols, one of Jones’s lawyers.
The positive test on Jones’s A sample has been reported to track and field’s international federation, the I.A.A.F., and USA Track & Field, according to those who were briefed on the results. The test was administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which will also be in charge of the testing of the B sample; that testing is expected to take place soon.
United States antidoping officials refused to comment on the case, which is its normal procedure until an athlete receives a hearing. Officials of USA Track & Field and the United States Olympic Committee also declined to comment.
Jones has vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She was implicated in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid investigation, but she was never charged. Her first husband, the shot-putter C. J. Hunter, reportedly told the grand jury investigating Balco that Jones had used drugs. Jones also had a relationship with the sprinter Tim Montgomery, who has been barred as a result of grand jury testimony about drug use. Jones and Montgomery have a son.
At the height of the Balco investigation in 2004, Jones’s performances fell off sharply. She was the toast of the track world in 2000, when she won five medals at the Sydney Olympics, including gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters. But she qualified only the 4x100 relay for the 2004 Athens Games. Jones and Lauryn Williams botched a handoff, and the United States team did not win a medal.
Injuries curtailed her 2005 season, as did several meet directors, including the one in Zurich; they refused to invite her to compete because of the drug suspicions.
Jones was making a successful comeback this year. After only a few races, including one at a meet on Randalls Island in New York, Jones won the 100 at the national championships in Indianapolis. She also raced at several European meets this summer, lowering her time in the 100 to 10.91 seconds, her best time in nearly five years, at the Golden Gala meet in July in Rome.
Earlier this summer, a meet director in Berlin said that Jones, and any other athlete associated with the coach Trevor Graham, would not be invited to run there. Jones no longer trains under him. Graham coaches Justin Gatlin, who shares the world record in the men’s 100 with Asafa Powell of Jamaica. Graham has come under increasing fire since Gatlin became the seventh of his athletes to face doping suspensions.