Australian Olympic chief says Jones should lose medals

BRISBANE, Australia (Reuters) - Marion Jones should be stripped of the medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics following her reported admission of steroid use, Australian Olympic chief John Coates said on Friday.

"If the reports are accurate and if she does in fact acknowledge steroid use at the Sydney Olympic Games then that's a good thing," Coates said.

"But it's still very, very disappointing for all of the athletes that competed against her.

"I don't think an acknowledgment now will ever right the injustice for those other ladies."

Jones won five medals at the Sydney Games, including three golds and two bronzes.

Asked if Jones should be stripped of her medals Coates said: "I hope so."

"Under the new world anti-doping code, there is the ability to go back eight years," he said.

"I would expect that the IOC would re-open ... an investigation which I think they did commence in respect of her at the end of 2004 and I would hope the medals would be taken away."

The Washington Post Web site reported that Jones had written to family and friends to tell them she would plead guilty on Friday to lying to federal agents about her drug use.

The New York Daily News, citing law enforcement sources, said Jones would appear in federal court in White Plains, New York, on Friday and plead guilty to two counts of lying to a federal agent.

Jones was one of many high-profile athletes who testified before the federal grand jury investigating BALCO, a probe that has resulted in five convictions for illegal steroid distribution.