Jones Hits Back at 'ignorant' Rogge

The weight of opinion that Marion Jones will be banned from the Olympics grows ever heavier, with senior international sports figures privately predicting the sprinter's career will not survive her links to the growing steroid scandal in the United States.

The triple Olympic champion recently met officials from the US Anti-Doping Agency, who presented her and her lawyer with evidence they claimed linked her with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the San Francisco-based company at the centre of a federal investigation into the supply of banned drugs.

Jones yesterday rounded on her critics, calling Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, "ignorant" after he had described Jones as "stupid" for associating with people who could tarnish her reputation.

Jones, who has never tested positive for a banned substance, denied any wrongdoing and strongly defended her position before today's grand prix meeting in Ostrava, in the Czech Republic.

"If he [Rogge] had wanted to sit down and speak with me, I could have explained to him the situation and the relationship," said Jones. "A man in his position should not make such an ignorant comment about a situation which he really knows little about - and the only people who really do know much about the situation are myself, USADA and the government."

Rogge had criticised Jones for having links with key people involved in the THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) scandal. Balco allegedly supplied Britain's European 100 metres champion and record holder Dwain Chambers with the drugs that led to him being banned for two years. Balco's founder and owner, Victor Conte, has been indicted on charges of illegally supplying banned drugs.

USADA has the power to ban athletes even though they have not provided a positive urine sample. Kelli White, the world 100m and 200m champion, was suspended for two years this year after she admitted taking drugs since 2000.

Jones has threatened to sue if she is denied the opportunity of competing at the Olympics in Athens in August.

"I'm totally 100% confident and I think by saying that whatever documents USADA had known publicly, by stating everything that I talked about with USADA, I think that proves I had nothing to hide," she said.

Among USADA's evidence against Jones is a $7,500 cheque from Jones's bank account to Balco and a 2001 calendar containing the initials MJ that appear to document a programme of drug use.

"I openly requested - begged - USADA to re-test any samples they might have and, as you know, I am one of the most tested athletes in the world," said Jones.

"There has to be a sample out there and, if you can find it, test it and I can promise you it will be a negative test. I'm 100% sure I'm not concerned about anything that I've done in my career."

Jones, the winner of a record five Olympic medals in Sydney four years ago, including golds in the 100m, 200m and 4x400m, has been frequently associated with doping scandals. She was nearly banned when only 14 after missing a routine out-of-competition test. She married CJ Hunter, the shot putter who won the world title in 1999 but who was forced to miss the Sydney Olympics after testing positive for nandrolone on four occasions four years ago, registering close to record levels 1,000 times above the legal limit. The couple divorced in 2001.

Tim Montgomery, the world record holder for the 100m, Jones's current partner and father of her son, is one of 27 athletes including Jones that the FBI alleges have been supplied with banned drugs by Conte.

Last year Jones and Montgomery stunned the athletics world by announcing they had hired Charlie Francis, the coach of the most notorious drugs cheat in sporting history, Ben Johnson.

Jones and Montgomery have already been told they are not welcome at the Bislett Games, the first Golden League meeting of the summer in Bergen, Norway, on Friday because they have become so closely linked to drugs. "We definitely don't want them," the meeting director Sven Are Hansen said.