Jones would use courts if left off U.S. roster

? With each question Marion Jones gets about steroids, her denials become more emphatic.

She took everything a step further Sunday, saying she would go to court if the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency barred her from competing in the Athens Olympics without a positive drug test.

USADA has the power to bring a drug case against an athlete in lieu of a positive test when the agency has “other reason to believe that a potential doping violation has occurred, such as admitted doping,” according to its rules.

Jones, speaking Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit, was one of several athletes who testified before a grand jury in the BALCO investigation.

“If I make the Olympic team, which I plan to do in Sacramento, and I’m held from the Olympic Games because of something that somebody thought, you can pretty much bet there will be a lawsuit,” said Jones, who won five track and field medals at the 2000 Olympics.

“I’m not going to sit down and let someone or a group of people or an organization take away my livelihood because of a hunch, because of a thought, because of somebody who’s trying to show their power.”

The U.S. Olympic track and field trials are July 9-18 in Sacramento, Calif.

At the request of her lawyers and management team, Jones has refused to comment on how she became involved with BALCO and its founder, Victor Conte.

This month, the Senate agreed to release to Olympic officials evidence that a committee collected on use of banned performance-enhancing drugs among athletes. Officials wanted the Senate committee to turn over information received from the Justice Department regarding the BALCO steroids so they could be sure to field a clean team in Athens.

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Joyner-Kersee among picks: Four-time swimming golf medalist Janet Evans and two-time heptathlon champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee headline the first U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame class since 1992.

Swimmer Matt Biondi, late track and field standout Florence Griffith Joyner and speedskaters Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair also were selected.

Also inducted: the 1996 women’s soccer team, paralympian Randy Snow, veteran inductee Alice Coachman Davis and special contributor Bud Greenspan.

The U.S. Olympic Committee announced the additions Sunday.

The induction ceremony will take place July 1 in Chicago.

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IOC to select 2012 finalists: With nine cities in the running for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee executive board is expected to eliminate at least three Tuesday.

Four cities are virtually assured of making the cut: Paris, London, New York and Madrid, Spain.

One definitely won’t stay in it: Havana. That leaves Moscow; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Istanbul, Turkey; and Leipzig, Germany. At least two of those could be dropped. The 2012 host will be selected in July 2005 in Singapore.

Geography favors a European city, because the 2008 Olympics will be in Asia (Beijing), and the 2010 Games will be in North America (Vancouver, British Columbia). Paris, which last played host in 1924, is viewed as the front-runner.

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Security official pleased with test: Greece’s top security official was satisfied with the results of a four-day exercise testing the country’s ability to respond to terror attacks during the Athens Games.

The joint Greek-U.S. exercise started Thursday and involved more than 300 security personnel.

The drill was observed by senior officials from a seven-nation advisory group that includes the United States, Britain and Israel.

This month, Greece increased its Olympic security budget to more than $1.2 billion.