Jones wants public hearing to clear name

AMERICAN sprint star Marion Jones has called for a public hearing to determine whether she has used performance-enhancing drugs rather than "a secret kangaroo court" she fears is taking place instead.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist staged a media conference at short notice in San Francisco yesterday at which she read a prepared statement. In it, the sprinter and long jumper said she would "answer questions in a public forum that is open for the entire world to see, hear and evaluate."

Jones, along with her partner, the men's 100-metre world record-holder Tim Montgomery, has been under investigation for possible use of banned drugs by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Montgomery, who is also the father of Jones' first child Tim Jnr., was last week accused by USADA along with three other track athletes of drug violations that could keep them out of the Olympic Games in Athens in August. USADA said it had made the allegations after reviewing records from a federal investigation into the BALCO company's connections with designer steroid THG.