SEVERAL PEOPLE are probably seeking out Marion Jones' address now, and real fast.

They probably need to beat the crowd lining up to collect one of those reimbursement cheques for prize monies won by the five-star Olympic medallist since September, 2000.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) seeks millions for appearance fees and prize monies and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) will request more than US$100,000 in funding it had given to Jones.

There would be quite a line, and quite a bit of dough, for cheating the field through drug use. But it ain't forthcoming because, according to court documents, she is broke.

Admission

All this payback scenario is due to the admission of Jones, who had denied using performance-enhancing drugs on a number of occasions, in a U.S. court last Friday that she had taken the banned substance tetrahy-droglycerine (THG), also known as 'the clear', between September 2000 to September 2001.

Besides money, the American sprinter has been banned for two years, beginning Monday. Prior to that, she had never tested positive for any drug-related offence.

On Monday, Jones also returned what must have been some of her most prized assets - the five Olympic medals won at the 2000 Games in Sydney. The medals include gold in the 100 metres, 200m and 4x400m, and bronze medals in the 4x100m and long jump.

And on top of that, she is on track to face possibly six months in jail for lying to federal prosecutors on two occasions.

Right now, I guess the world waits to hear the reasons for Jones' stunning admission at this time, given the circumstances and the fact that she had appeared to have successfully sprinted clear of the drugs net and really is not competing at this time.

The matter of conscience does not readily fall into the picture so I guess, you just have to credit the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in its war against drugs.

I'm sure there were doubts in many people's minds when doping experts challenged Jones.

Her close association with well-known track and field people, former husband and shot putter, Calvin J. Hunter, former 100 metres world record holder Tim Montgomery, who is her son's father, and coach, Trevor Graham, who admitted blowing the whistle on BALCO by sending in the THG syringe, would not have aided her cause.

What appeared to have been Jones' natural potential, however, and times that seemed practical enough to match that talent, made her a loveable champion.

Like an object beneath the surface of water, however, admission of a Marion Jones to being a drug cheat will no doubt feed into the illusion that what we are seeing on the track is not really the genuine thing.

Her disqualification also raises a series of interesting and potential problematic situations in more than one of the events in which she medalled at the Sydney Games.

Gold for Thanou

In the 100 metres, where Jones won gold, the runner-up was Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou, who is herself at the centre of a doping controversy as she missed a number of drug tests and went missing, then wound up injured in a bike accident when she should have been drug tested at the 2004 Athens Games in her own country.

For that, Thanou later served a two-year ban. Without an admission though, there doesn't appear to be any legal framework for the IOC to deny Thanou the gold medal.

Third in that event was Jamaican Tayna Lawrence and fourth, Merlene Ottey, who is poised to collect a ninth Olympic medal.

At that same Olympics, Ottey had been a late and controversial addition to the Jamaica team and several Jamaican athletes protested her inclusion to run the 100m ahead of then national champion, Peta-Gaye Dowdie. Ottey had not run at the Jamaican trials because, at the time, she was fighting a doping allegation. However, she successfully cleared her name.

There is also the issue of the relay teams and the IOC asking the U.S. members of the 4x100m and 4x400m quartets to turn over their medals. This has already been done by the IOC, at the same 2000 Games in Sydney when the American men's 4x400m team was asked to surrender gold medals after Jerome Young, who ran in the heats, was later caught by doping experts.

Jamaica finished third in that men's 4x400m men's event, but it is still unclear whether the team's position has been upgraded from bronze to silver.

In the women's 4x400m, Jamaica's team of Sandie Richards, Catherine Scott, Deon Hemmings and Lorraine Fenton (running order) were second behind the U.S., so I guess even they have a line to join at Jones' address.