According to a report in Around the Rings, an attorney for Marion Jones voluntarily surrendered the medals to a United States Olympic Committee representative in Austin, Texas (where Marion lives.) Next up according to various sources: going after the $100,000 in bonus money that was paid.
My message to the USOC: good luck trying to get it.
By her own admission, she is broke, with less than $2000 in the bank. It's going to be a tough go. I used to do collections myself for seven years for MasterCard and Visa years ago. I saw some pretty weird things in the credit business. Many times, I would hear "you can't get blood from a turnip", which many times, followed a letter from an attorney saying my debtor had filed bankruptcy.
The IOC, in a statement to me said: "This is a sad day for sport. The only good that can be drawn from (today's) revelations is that her decision to finally admit the truth will play we hope, a key part in breaking the back of the Balco affair. The IOC has since 2004 wanted to ascertain the extent to which the case has had an impact on the Olympic Games. Our disciplinary commission, which has been working on this file over the past years, will now glean now what it can from her comments, and work with the IAAF and the USOC on how to finally get to the bottom of this sorry case."
What Marion did was wrong, no doubt about it. But for her to turn the equivalent of "state's evidence" and roll on other athletes is going to take a huge amount of "give" from the USOC and IOC. Marion can be a valuable resource, especially in terms of what she knows about Balco. But it's not going to happen unless she's offered a deal.
I am not saying she should escape punishment. But the value of what she knows is far greater than $100,000 and she's going to want something out of this before she talks.
Deal...or no deal?
