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Jones to skip athletics World Cup
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-15 10:58

Former triple Olympic champion Marion Jones has decided not to compete at this weekend's World Cup in Athens.

"I was in top condition when my season was interrupted more than three weeks ago by the leak of the positive 'A' sample," Jones said in a statement issued Thursday by her lawyer Rich Nichols.

"August and September is the peak of each track season, and it's the races that keep you sharp and in race shape. Unfortunately, I just don't feel that my race conditioning is there."

Jones was supposed to run in the 100 meters in Athens.

Jones's lawyers announced last week she had been cleared of doping after her B sample tested negative for the banned blood-boosting drug EPO.

Jones's initial sample had tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) at the US championships in Indianapolis in June.

Jones, 30, won three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.