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US track team to blame if Marion Jones' quest derailed, says IOC official

From Sports Illustrated • SI Images: Photos from the Games • Tim Layden: Jones down but certainly not out • Leigh Montville: Level the playing field • E.M. Swift: Romanian gymnast is the victim in a half-hearted war • Grant Wahl: U.S. men deserve kudos for inspiring run • Michael Farber: U.S.-Cuba face off in gold-medal game • Alex Wolff: Tennis -- Go Nathalie • Phil Taylor: Dream Team needs to wake up • SI For Women's Kelli Anderson: Berg keeps life in perspective after game-winner More Features • Day at a Glance: The name game • Wake-up Call: Tracking the day in sports • Viewers' Guide: Sept. 26 • Closer Look: Soccer -- Spanish defender claw Wolff • Quiz: Today's Tester Athletes • Just Checking In: U.S. softball pitcher Michele Smith • Head Games: U.S. hurdler Melissa Morrison • Head Games: American swimmer Kristy Kowal • Head Games: American swimmer Courtney Shealy • Head Games: U.S. hurdler Terrence Trammell Multimedia • Shots of the Day: Young Americans • Shots of the Day: Shots of the Day

SYDNEY, Sept 26 (AFP) - The US Track and Field team has only itself to blame if Marion Jones' bid for five gold medals in Sydney was derailed by her husband's positive drugs tests, IOC official Johann Koss said Tuesday.

The IOC's medical commission chief Prince Alexandre de Merode has announced that Jones husband world shot put champion C.J. Hunter has tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone four times since June.

Hunter withdrew from the Olympics before they began, citing injury, but is in Sydney supporting and coaching Jones, who opened her quest for five gold medals by winning the 100m on Saturday.

Koss, the IOC representative on the World Anti-Doping Agency, said the US tried to conceal Hunter's dope test and was to blame for the announcement coming in the middle of Jones' Olympic campaign.

"I should think this is affecting her a lot to prepare for the rest of the Games and I think that's unfair for her," he told the Nine Network.

"But I think the US Track and Field should have released this a long time before this happened so this wouldn't happen now just during the Games."

However, Koss said it would be unfair to cast aspersions on Jones just because her husband had tested positive.

"These are two totally different cases," he said. "Marion Jones is under a lot of pressure now and certainly she is totally innocent and she has no relation to his positive case and I think this is very clear.

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