Olympic medalist Marion Jones vows lawsuit

She's connected with the BALCO laboratory steroids scandal.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Somehow, Marion Jones always finds herself talking about anything but her track and field career.
There was her divorce from husband and former shot putter C.J. Hunter, who failed four steroids tests before the Sydney Games in 2000.
There was her split from coach Trevor Graham and short affiliation with disgraced coach Charlie Francis, who was connected to steroid use by Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson in the 1980s.
And now the BALCO steroids scandal, in which she was among a handful of athletes to testify before a grand jury. Jones has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but she went a step further Sunday.
The five-time Olympic medalist said she would go to court if the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency bars her from competing in the Athens Olympics without a positive drug test.
Possibility
USADA has the power to bring a drug case against an athlete in lieu of a positive test when the agency has "other reason to believe that a potential doping violation has occurred, such as admitted doping," according to its rules.
"If I make the Olympic team, which I plan to do in Sacramento, and I'm held from the Olympic Games because of something that somebody thought, you can pretty much bet there will be a lawsuit," Jones said at the U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit.
"I'm not going to sit down and let someone or a group of people or an organization take away my livelihood because of a hunch, because of a thought, because of somebody who's trying to show their power."
The U.S. Olympic track and field trials are in Sacramento, Calif., from July 9-18.
Not everyone believes USADA's rules are unfair. Swimmer Gary Hall Jr., who has won eight Olympic medals, says Jones needs to be more forthcoming.
Silence on BALCO
At the request of her lawyers and management team, Jones refuses to comment on how she became involved with BALCO and its founder, Victor Conte.
"Marion Jones and her involvement with the THG scandal, I frown on that," Hall said. "I think that she needs to address it. Her competitors, the people that she beat, deserve an explanation as to why she's being called to testify in front of a federal grand jury on the THG investigation. And that's all I'm saying."
U.S. Olympic Committee vice president Herman Frazier said Sunday there would have to be "concrete evidence" to bar anyone from the games without a positive test. The USOC has until July 21 to submit its Olympics roster to the International Olympic Committee.
Also Sunday, the USOC announced new inductees to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Swimmers Janet Evans and Matt Biondi, track and field standouts Jackie Joyner-Kersee and the late Florence Griffith Joyner, and speedskaters Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair headline the first new class since 1992.
The others to be inducted: the 1996 women's soccer team, paralympian Randy Snow, veteran inductee Alice Coachman Davis and special contributor Bud Greenspan.
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