Jones Is Accused, but Lawyer Denies

No matter how many times Marion Jones has denied taking steroids, no matter how defiantly, she has been dogged by suspicion.

America’s top name in track and field over the last five years has not been charged with any offense, yet she has faced months of questions from prosecutors, investigators and reporters.

Now comes more potential trouble. In an interview scheduled to air on ABC’s “20/20” tonight, Jones is the subject of a new round of allegations from the man at the center of the federal BALCO steroid investigation.

Victor Conte, charged with conspiring to distribute banned substances to numerous high-profile athletes, says he supplied Jones with performance-enhancing drugs before and after her historic performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

In excerpts released Thursday by ABC, Conte says he created a program by which Jones used insulin, the blood booster EPO and a substance known as “the clear.”

Conte also says he showed the sprinter how to inject herself with human growth hormone.

“After I instructed her how to do it and dialed it up, she did the injection with me sitting right there next to her ... right in front me,” Conte says.

The excerpts brought a quick response from Jones’ attorney, who reiterated that his client has never used performance-enhancing drugs.

“We invite the public to decide: Victor Conte is a man facing a 42-count federal indictment, while Marion Jones is one of America’s most decorated female athletes,” Rich Nichols said in a statement Thursday. “Mr. Conte’s statements have been wildly contradictory, while Marion Jones has steadfastly maintained her position throughout.”

Still, anti-doping experts expect tonight’s broadcast will put further pressure on the sprinter.

“The evidence has been stacking up,” said Steven Ungerleider, a researcher and author of “Faust’s Gold,” a study of the East German doping machine of the 1970s and 1980s. “For someone who would like to make a comeback and retain her very large endorsements, one has to wonder.”

Four years ago, Jones was the toast of the Olympic movement, winning gold in the 100 and 200 meters and the 1,600-meter relay at the Sydney Games. She also won bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay.

Conte told “20/20” that he devised a drug-taking program in the weeks before the Olympics and began giving her drugs “at the very beginning.” He did not specify when she allegedly began using the drugs.

“Marion didn’t like to inject in the stomach,” he said. “She would do it in her quad. The front part of her leg.”

Over the course of her career, officials repeatedly have drug-tested Jones and the results have always been negative. Conte says officials lacked adequate tests to detect the substances he was supplying to her.

“It’s like taking candy from a baby,” he said.

But Jones came under scrutiny in the fall of 2003 when federal agents raided the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, Conte’s small Northern California business that specialized in nutritional supplements.

Agents seized what they allege is evidence of steroid distribution and information linking BALCO to dozens of athletes, including Jones and San Francisco Giant slugger Barry Bonds.

The sprinter joined a parade of sports celebrities called to testify in a grand jury investigation that eventually led to Conte and the others being charged. The men pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

In the meantime, anti-doping officials pursued a separate investigation.

Last spring, according to her representatives, they presented Jones with what they claimed to be evidence of wrongdoing. But she was not formally charged.

All along, Jones was on the offensive, speaking out at public appearances.

At a news conference in New York in May, she told reporters that if officials tried to ban her from the Olympics, “you can pretty much bet that there will be a lawsuit.”

Later, after running in a meet at the Home Depot Center in Carson, she wondered “why my name is being dragged into this.”

There was also a nationally televised news conference and the taking of a lie-detector test. Jones and her representatives asked the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to declare an end to the investigation.

Instead, USADA sought lifetime suspensions for four other athletes, including sprinter Tim Montgomery, Jones’ partner and father of their child.

Dogged by allegations through the summer, Jones appeared drained at the U.S. track and field trials and fared poorly at the Athens Games, finishing fifth in the long jump.

Now, USADA officials say they want to speak to Conte about the claims he made about her on television.

Asked why he chose to talk, Conte told ABC: “I have no bone to pick with Marion. I’m here today because I believe that the world needs to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so that we can really attempt collectively to try to genuinely create a level playing field for the athletes of the future.”