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Jones used drugs at Sydney Olympics - ex-husband
The ex-husband of three-time Olympic champion Marion Jones told federal investigators that Jones was using banned performance-enhancing drugs during the 2000 Games in Sydney where she won five medals, two newspapers reported.
The San Francisco Chronicle said C.J. Hunter told Internal Revenue Service investigators pursuing the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative case that he personally injected his then-wife with banned substances and saw Jones inject herself with the drugs at their home in Australia.
Both newspapers published the stories on their Web sites Thursday night.
Human growth hormone, the steroid THG, insulin and the endurance-boosting drug EPO were among the substances Hunter alleged that Jones used.
Hunter, who won a shot put world title in 1999, tested positive for steroids four times in 2000 - when he was married to Jones, who has adamantly denied using banned substances.
Jones' attorney, Joseph Burton, released a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday night accusing Hunter of lying to authorities because he was bitter about the couple's breakup.
"C.J. Hunter has made false statements to federal officials, and we call upon federal authorities to investigate Hunter's conduct as it is a crime to lie to federal investigators," Burton said. He said Hunter's comments are contradicted by those made by Trevor Graham, Jones' former coach.
"C.J. Hunter has had an axe to grind ever since Marion Jones ended their marriage," the lawyer said.
Burton, who never identifies Graham by name, said the former coach "has supported everything Marion has said all along - that she never used performance enhancing drugs."
Angela DeMent, Hunter's lead attorney, said she could not comment on the facts of a pending case.
Travis Tygart, director of legal affairs for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, would not comment specifically on Jones' case. The agency's investigations are separate from those being conducted by the IRS, but many of the same individuals are being questioned.
Jones, who had three gold medals among the five medals she won in Sydney, is scheduled to compete in the long jump at next month's Olympics in Athens.
Citing investigators' memos, the Chronicle reported that Hunter gave a 2 1/2-hour interview to IRS investigators on June 8 in Raleigh, N.C., and had a follow-up call a week later.
During the interview, Hunter alleged that Jones had used banned substances before, during and after the Sydney Olympics.
"Hunter stated that he saw Jones inject herself with EPO," IRS agent Erwin Rogers wrote in one of the memos quoted by the Chronicle. "Jones would inject herself in the front waist line area slightly underneath the skin. ... Initially, Hunter injected Jones because Jones did not want to inject herself in this location."
Hunter alleged that Jones obtained performance-enhancing drugs from Victor Conte, owner of BALCO, and from Graham. Conte has pleaded not guilty to steroid conspiracy charges and Graham denied to investigators that he supplied Jones with steroids.
BALCO, a lab in Burlingame, is at the center of an international sports doping scandal that has enveloped prominent athletes, including San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds and sprinter Tim Montgomery.
"The government continues to leak information, and they continue to put their case together one lying idiot at a time," Troy Ellerman, a member of Conte's defense team, told the Mercury News. "I don't know what else to say." |
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