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SALVO, North Carolina - Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones has accepted a two-year ban after admitting to the use of a prohibited substance and has relinquished the five Olympic medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Games, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Monday.
Jones, 31, admitted to using a substance prohibited under the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and USADA in federal court on Friday.
She announced after the court hearing she was retiring from athletics.
Her lawyer confirmed she had returned the medals.
Jones won three gold medals and two bronzes at the Sydney Games.
After years of denial she told the court she had taken the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, known as the "clear" from September 2000 through July 2001.
Jones pleaded guilty to two felonies - lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and lying to them about a separate check fraud case.
She faces up to six months in jail under a plea agreement with prosecutors and will be sentenced in January.
It wasn't immediately clear where the medals were now. Jones' lawyer, Henry DePippo, said she had relinquished them, but declined to say to whom they were given. The normal protocol would be for Jones to give them to the US Olympic Committee, which then would return them to the International Olympic Committee, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.
"The IOC wants to move forward as quickly as possible in getting the facts and sorting out all the issues from the BALCO case," Davies said.
- REUTERS
