Editing Marion Jones (section)

===Admission of lying during BALCO investigation===
On October 5, 2007, Jones admitted to lying to federal agents under oath about her steroids use prior to the [[2000 Summer Olympics]] and pleaded guilty at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (in [[White Plains, New York|White Plains]]).<ref name="NYT20071005"/> She confessed to Judge [[Kenneth M. Karas]] that she had made false statements regarding the BALCO and a check-fraud case. She was released on her own recognizance but was required to surrender both her U.S. and Belizean passports, pending sentencing in January. Although a maximum sentence of five years could be imposed, the prosecution recommended no more than six months as part of Jones's [[plea bargain]].<ref name=":1"/>

After her admission, Jones held a press conference on the same day, where she publicly admitted to using steroids before the Olympics and acknowledged that she had, in fact, lied when she previously denied steroid use in statements to the press, to various sports agencies, and to two grand juries. One was impaneled to investigate the BALCO "designer steroid" ring, and the other was impaneled to investigate a check fraud ring involving many of the same parties from the BALCO case. As a result of these admissions, Jones accepted a two-year suspension from track and field competition issued by USADA and announced her retirement from track and field.<ref name="NYT20071005">{{cite news |access-date=2007-10-05 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/sports/othersports/05cnd-balco.html?hp=&pagewanted=print |title=Jones Pleads Guilty to Lying About Drugs |first1=Michael S. |last1=Schmidt |first2=Lynn |last2=Zinser |date=October 5, 2007 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> She broke down into tears during the press conference as she apologized for her actions, saying: "And so it is with a great amount of shame, that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust... and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let them down. I have let my country down. And I have let myself down."<ref name="NYT20071006">{{cite news |last1=Zinser |first1=Lynn |last2=Schmidt |first2=Michael S. |date=October 6, 2007 |title=Jones Admits to Doping and Enters Guilty Plea |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=D1}}</ref>

USADA stated that their sanction "also requires disqualification of all her competitive results obtained after September 1, 2000, and forfeiture of all medals, results, points and prizes". On January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced to six months in jail.<ref name="NYT20071005"/> She began her sentence on March 7, 2008,<ref name="AFP20080307">{{cite news |access-date=2008-07-30 |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j45h2TXIPAcsLvMwWvwlDUeXuKVQ |title=Disgraced sprinter Jones reports to jail |date=March 7, 2008 |work=AFP |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621041311/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j45h2TXIPAcsLvMwWvwlDUeXuKVQ |archive-date=June 21, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and was released on September 5, 2008.<ref name="Released">{{cite news |date=September 5, 2008 |title=Marion Jones released from Texas federal prison |url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/trackandfield/news/story?id=3570875 |access-date=October 11, 2024 |publisher=ESPN |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

In the BALCO case, she had denied to federal agents her use of the steroid [[tetrahydrogestrinone]], known as "The Clear", or "THG", from 1999, but claimed she was given the impression she was taking a [[flaxseed oil]] supplement for two years while coach Trevor Graham supplied her with the substance. In a published letter in October 2007, Jones said that she had used the substance that was given to her described as flaxseed oil, which was later confirmed to be "The Clear" until she stopped training with Graham at the end of 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-10-04 |title=Olympics Star Marion Jones Admits Doping - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/olympics-star-marion-jones-admits-doping/ |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-10-05 |title=Marion Jones's letter to friends and family |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/marion-joness-letter-to-friends-and-family-20071005-gdra43.html |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref> She said she lied when federal agents questioned her in 2003 because she panicked when they presented her with a sample of "The Clear".<ref name="Shipley2007">{{cite news |last=Shipley |first=Amy |title=Marion Jones Admits to Steroid Use |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 5, 2007 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100401666_pf.html}}</ref>