US sprint queen Marion Jones says she'll sue accused steroid peddler Victor Conte over his allegations that she received banned drugs before winning five medals at the Sydney Olympics "Victor Contes allegations about me are not true, and the truth will come out in the appropriate forum," Jones said Friday in a statement issued through her attorney. "I have instructed my lawyers to vigorously explore a defamation lawsuit against Victor Conte."
Conte, one of four men facing criminal charges in the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), which he founded, says in a television interview that he supplied Jones with several banned drugs and instructed her how to use them.
The full interview is to air on Friday night on the "20-20" programme, but excerpts were broadcast on Thursday.
Jones, who has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, won three gold medals and two bronze medals at Sydney but struggled this year simply to qualify for the Athens Games.
She has never failed a drug test. However, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) fingered BALCO as the source of the previously undetectable designer steriod tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), and information gathered by federal agents in the BALCO case has already been used to impose sanctions on athletes for various drug infractions, even though they hadn't tested positive.
Jones' lawyers have argued that Conte cannot be believed because of his role in a scandal which has rocked athletics and cast a shadow over baseball.