Fast Break

Track and field

Jones admits she used steroids

Marion Jones admitted using steroids before the 2000 Olympics in a recent letter to close family and friends, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

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

“The clear” is a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

Until now, Jones had steadfastly denied she ever took any kind of performance-enhancing drugs.

Jones is scheduled to appear in U.S. Southern District Court today to plead guilty to charges in connection with her steroid use, a federal law enforcement source told the Associated Press. “I want to apologize for all of this,” the Post reported, quoting a person who received a copy of Jones’ letter and read it to the paper. “I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways.”

In her letter, Jones said she didn’t realize she’d used performance-enhancing drugs until she stopped training with Graham at the end of 2002. She said she lied when federal agents questioned her in 2003, panicking when they presented her with a sample of “the clear,” which she recognized as the substance Graham had given her.

Football

Coleman sits out with concussion

Jets starting safety Erik Coleman has a concussion and his availability for New York’s game against the New York Giants on Sunday was uncertain.

“We’ll evaluate it as we go,” coach Eric Mangini said. “We take concussions extremely seriously.”

Coleman, the Jets’ fifth-round draft pick in 2004 out of Washington State University, was injured during New York’s 17-14 loss at Buffalo last Sunday, but didn’t show symptoms of a concussion until after the game.

Mangini said Coleman, a Lewis and Clark High grad, told the team Monday he was having discomfort. Coleman was listed as out for practice on Wednesday with a head injury, but it was changed to a concussion as the result of, as Mangini termed it, “a clerical oversight.”

Coleman has started the Jets’ first four games and leads the team with 35 tackles.