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By Edward Iwata, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Olympic track champion Marion Jones filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Victor Conte, the steroids dealing suspect at the heart of the sports doping scandal, saying he falsely accused her of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Marion Jones filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit Wednesday against BALCO founder Victor Conte.
By Susan Ragan, AP
Jones and her attorneys deny the allegations made by Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founder Conte during interviews in early December with ABC's 20/20 and ESPN The Magazine.
In the interviews, Conte accused Jones of cheating her way to glory by using a designer steroid, human growth hormone, insulin and the endurance-boosting hormone erythropoietin (EPO) before and during the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, where Jones became the first woman to win five track and field medals in a single Games.
Jones seeks $25 million for potentially lost endorsement money.
Lin Wood, an Atlanta libel attorney, called the suit "a public-relations tactic." If Jones were serious, she also would have sued ABC and ESPN, Wood said; Conte does not have the resources to defend the suit or pay a judgment. Nor is the case likely to decide the issue of Jones' alleged steroids use, he said.
"I don't think you can restore your reputation with a lawsuit that is simply not going to be defended," said Wood, who represents the accuser in the Kobe Bryant **** case and Richard ***ell, falsely accused of the Olympic bombing.
According to the lawsuit, Conte's attorneys early on said Conte never provided steroids to Jones. But in a "sudden about-face," Conte has changed his story to "curry favor with prosecutors," grab the media spotlight and make money, the lawsuit charges.
Conte and three other men, including Barry Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, face federal charges of steroid distribution and money laundering. Their trial is expected to start in the spring.
According to the lawsuit and other documents filed with the lawsuit, Jones:
• Never has taken "banned performance-enhancing drugs" and passed 160 drug tests over the last five years, including testing at the 2000 Olympic Games.
• Passed a lie-detector test in June by Ronald Homer, a polygraph examiner and former FBI special agent. Jones answered "no" when asked whether she had ever used performance-enhancing drugs.
• Has not used steroids based on blood and urine tests since 2001 that were analyzed by her doctor, Richard Ferro of the Duke University Medical Center.
Conte, however, won't budge.
In an e-mail statement, he said: "This is nothing more than a PR stunt by a desperate woman, who has regularly used drugs throughout her career. ... I stand by everything I said on the 20/20 special. I am telling the truth, and Marion is lying."
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Contributing: **** Patrick, USA TODAY
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Track star Marion Jones sentenced to 6 months
Story Highlights
Gold-medal runner will spend time in prison for lying about using steroid
Jones pleads with judge not to separate her from her children
Judge isn't moved: "People live with their choices"
For years Jones had publicly and angrily denied taking performance drugs
WHITE PLAINS, New York (CNN) -- Olympic track star Marion Jones was sentenced in a federal court Friday to six months in prison, two years of probation and community service for lying to federal prosecutors investigating the use of performance-enhancing substances.
Marion Jones was smiling when she arrived Friday at the courthouse, but her smile soon disappeared.
She said through her attorney that she would like to start serving her sentence as soon as possible, and Judge Kenneth Karas set March 11 as the "surrender date" unless a designated jail is able to accept her sooner.
Jones had pleaded guilty in October to charges of lying to a federal agent in 2003 about her use of steroids, and was sentenced on two counts -- getting six months in prison on the first count and two months on the second, to be served concurrently.
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