Watch Marion Jones winning gold in the 100 metres at the Sydney Olympics

Watch Marion Jones winning gold in the 200 metres at the Sydney Olympics

Watch Marion Jones winning bronze in the long jump at the Sydney Olympics

Marion Jones is ready to admit she took performance-enhancing substances after years of denials, according to reports in the United States.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist is due to appear in the US District Court in White Plains, New York, on Friday to plead guilty to charges in connection with steroid use, according to a federal law enforcement source. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, and would not provide details about the plea.

The Washington Post broke the story on Thursday that Jones sent family and friends a letter in which she admitted to using steroids before the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

“I want to apologise for all of this,” the Post reported Jones saying in her letter, quoting a person who received a copy and read it to the paper. “I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways.”

According to the newspaper, Jones said in her letter that she faced up to six months in jail and would be sentenced in three months.

The admission could also cost Jones the five medals she won in Sydney, where she was the most celebrated female athlete of the games. Although she did not win the five gold medals she had been hoping for, she did win three golds and two bronzes.

No one answered the door at her home in Austin, Texas, on Thursday evening, and a message left on the phone of her husband, Obadele Thompson, was not immediately returned.

Jones said she took a substance known as “the clear” for two years, beginning in 1999, and that she got it from Trevor Graham, her former coach, who told her it was flaxseed oil, the newspaper reported.

“The clear” is a performance-enhancing drug linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), the laboratory at the centre of the steroids scandal involving a number of professional sports.

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