SALVO (North Carolina), Oct 9: Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones has returned the five medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a source close to Jones told Reuters on Monday.

“She apologises to her competitors and hopes the record books will be amended to accurately reflect their achievements,” said the source, who did not wish to be identified.

New York attorney Henry DePippo, who represents Jones along with F. Hill Allen of Raleigh, North Carolina, confirmed in a telephone call that the medals had been returned.

Jones won three gold medals and two bronzes at the Games and after years of denial admitted in a New York court on Friday she had taken the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, in preparation for the Games.

US Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth then called on Jones to return the medals and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) indicated it would begin a process that could lead her being stripped of the medals.

The IOC were unable to verify if the medals had been handed back.

“I cannot confirm this,” an IOC official said. “The procedure would be for the medals to be returned to the United States Olympic Committee and then they would come to us.”

—Reuters