Athletics: Jones - I'll Sue If Barred From Olympics

Marion Jones, the triple Olympic champion, said yesterday she is prepared to sue if she is prevented from competing in Athens because of information obtained in a United States Justice Department investigation into the illegal sale and use of steroids.

"If I make the Olympic team and I am held from the Games because of something somebody thought, you can pretty much bet there will be lawsuits," Jones said yesterday at a United States Olympic Committee media summit. "I don't have a problem saying that.

"I'm not just going to sit down and let someone or a group of people or organisation take away my livelihood because of a hunch, because of a thought, because of someone who is trying to show their power."

Last week the US Senate, which has been looking into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport, turned over to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) findings of a Justice Department investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative believed to be at the heart of the steroid scandal.

As part of the investigation several prominent Olympians, including Jones and her partner Tim Montgomery, the 100 metres world record holder, have testified before a federal grand jury.

Jones, who won five medals at the Sydney Games, says she has never used performance-enhancing drugs and her name will be cleared as information in the investigation becomes public. "I think it is unfair," she said. "To keep an athlete out of an Olympic Games because of something that has not yet been tested for is totally unfair."

Denise Lewis's coach Charles van Commenee has been backed by Max Jones to replace him as UK Athletics' new performance director when he steps down after the Olympics in Athens this summer, having been involved in the past five games.