SAN FRANCISCO (AP):OLYMPIC CHAMPION Marion Jones filed a defamation lawsuit yesterday against the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) head Victor Conte, who told a U.S. television audience that he gave her steroids and watched her inject herself with them.
Jones is seeking US$25 million (J$1.52 billion) in the suipt, alleging Conte tarnished her reputation when he made the statement on December 3 on the programme '20/20'.
Conte and three others connected to BALCO were indicted in February by a federal grand jury for a variety of alleged offences, including illegally distributing steroids.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, said Jones passed a lie detector test and includes a statement from her doctor saying she never used steroids. Jones won three gold medals and two bronzes during the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.
Conte's statements, the suit said, "are false and malicious".
A telephone call placed yesterday to Conte's lawyer, Robert Holley, was not immediately returned.
FEDERAL INDICTMENT
Conte, BALCO vice-president James Valente, athletics coach Remi Korchemny and Greg Anderson, the personal trainer for Major League Baseball star Barry Bonds, face federal indictment on a range of accusations.
The federal charges include distributing steroids, possession of human growth hormone, money laundering and misbranding drugs with intent to defraud. All have pleaded not guilty.
Conte told ABC: "I think she made her decision, and she's going to have to be accountable to the consequences of her decision. If she said she didn't use drugs, then she lied."
