Sep 7, 2006, 16:20 GMT
Washington - Olympic gold-medal sprinter Marion Jones said she was 'ecstatic' and 'anxious to get back on the track' after being cleared of doping allegations following a negative test result.
A 'B' sample of a urine test did not confirm an initial sample which had tested positive for the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) in June, it was reported in Washington.
Jones will now be allowed to run in the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart this weekend if she wishes, a senior official of the international athletics federation IAAF told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Thursday.
'I am absolutely ecstatic,' said 30-year-old Jones in a statement released by her lawyers.
'I am anxious to get back on the track. I have always maintained that I have never ever taken performance-enhancing drugs, and I am pleased that a scientific process has now demonstrated that fact.'
Her lawyer Howard Jacobs said the 'B' sample did not confirm the 'A' sample and Jones was now free to compete.
'But it is unfortunate that because of the leak of the 'A' sample results, Marion was wrongfully accused of a doping violation and her reputation was unfairly questioned,' he added.
Jones was 'relieved, to say the least' on hearing the confirmation from the US Anti-Doping Agency, Jacobs was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
'She never had any explanation for how or why she tested positive.'
Jones, who holds three gold medals from the 2000 Games in Sydney, including the women's 100 metres, was reportedly tested positive for EPO in a sample of her urine from June 23 at the US national championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 'B' sample is from a second urine sample taken at the same time.
Shortly before news of the 'A' sample became known last month, Jones pulled out the a Golden League series meeting in Zurich.
Jones was attempting a comeback this season, after a lengthy absence to give birth to a son. She has been under a cloud of suspicion since being linked in 2003 to the BALCO doping case, which has involved several high-profile US athletes in a federal criminal probe of the use and sale of the designer steroid THG.
Jones has never before failed a doping test and has protested her innocence throughout the three years of the BALCO case.
She ran at several meets this summer in Europe before pulling out of the Zurich meeting.
Jones will now be allowed to start at this weekend's World Athletics Final in Stuttgart if she wishes, IAAF vice-president Helmut Digel told dpa.
'Marion Jones can be justified in feeling angry,' said Digel on the fact that the result of the 'A' sample had been made public.
Jones had never been tested positive for doping and 'therefore she has to be treated like a clean athlete,' said Digel.
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