US track star Jones pleads guilty in steroid case

Reversing years of denials, US track superstar Marion Jones pleaded guilty on Friday in New York to lying to federal investigators and admitted using steroids, which could cost her the five medals she won in the 2000 Olympics.

In a sober court hearing and a tear-filled appearance before reporters, Jones, 31, admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.

"It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust," Jones told reporters outside court, addressing her fans and family.

"I want you to know that I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me," she said, breaking down in tears.

"I have let my country down and I have let myself down."

The head of the US Olympic Committee urged Jones to give back the medals she won at the Sydney Summer Olympics.

Jones told the court she swallowed tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, also known as "the clear," which she said had been given to her by her former coach Trevor Graham.

"I consumed the substance several times before the Sydney Games," Jones told US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, just north of New York City.

"He (Graham) told me to put it under my tongue and to swallow it."

She pleaded guilty to two felonies - lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and lying to them about a separate cheque fraud case. Jones faces up to six months in jail under a plea agreement with prosecutors. She was released on bail, surrendered her passport, and will be sentenced on January 11.

She later told reporters she was retiring from track and field, ending a spectacular career in which she became the first woman to win five medals at a single Olympics.

She captured the gold in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x400-metre relay, and won the bronze in the long jump and 4x100-metre relay at the 2000 Sydney Games.

USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said: "Ms Jones has cheated her sport, her team-mates, her competitors, her country and herself.

"She now has an opportunity to make a very different choice by returning her Olympic medals, and in so doing, properly acknowledge the efforts of the vast majority of athletes who choose to compete clean."

Jones is already under investigation by the IOC for suspicion of using steroids.

IOC president Jacques Rogge called it "a sad day for sport."

WADA chief's reaction - IOC likely to act swiftly

The chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) says he expects the IOC to move quickly and strip Marion Jones of her five Olympic medals following her admission that she used performance-enhancing drugs.

WADA chairman Dick Pound said the hardest part of taking away Jones's medals will be turning over her 100m gold from Sydney 2000 to runner-up Katerina Thanou, of Greece, who recently completed a two-year doping ban.

"The IOC opened up a file on Jones after Sydney and we now have full admission, so I don't think it will take much time to respond," Pound said.

The IOC began watching Jones in December 2004 when the American was implicated in the BALCO steroid scandal along with her former partner and 100 metres world record holder Tim Montgomery and several other high-profile US athletes.

Along with fellow Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris, Thanou sparked a doping scandal at the 2004 Athens Olympics when they failed to appear for drug tests. Both received two-year bans.

"That's one of the disagreeable aspects," said Pound, when asked about awarding Thanou the gold medal. "That will be hard to swallow."