Jones plans quick return to track

RALEIGH, North Carolina, Sep 8 (Reuters) Former Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones hopes to compete in next week's World Cup in Athletics and the Shanghai meeting later this month after being cleared of doping allegations, her manager said.

''This weekend's meet (the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart) was too short a time to get ready, but she is hoping to compete in the World Cup and in Shanghai,'' Charles Wells told Reuters yesterday in a telephone interview from his Texas office.

The World Cup in Athletics is scheduled for September 16-17 in Athens with the Shanghai meeting on September 23.

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

The American's initial sample had tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) at the U.S. championships in Indianapolis in June. Had the second sample tested positive, the 30-year-old would have faced a two-year ban from the sport.

''I am absolutely ecstatic,'' the US sprinter said in a statement. ''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.'' ''I am anxious to get back on the track,'' she added.

Jones's coach Steve Riddick said she would resume training on Friday.

''We didn't work today, but we will be working tomorrow,'' Riddick told Reuters via telephone from his Norfolk, Virginia, camp.

''We will get her ready as we can.'' Jones has not competed since she ran in London on July 28 and has not trained strenuously since mid-August.

She had been preparing to run in Zurich on August. 18, but left Switzerland early that morning to return home after learning her 'A' sample at the U.S. championships was positive.

''I don't think it will be that bad,'' Riddick said of her return. ''She has been active, so we will need to start doing some speed work.

Once the dominant sprinter of the 1990s and early this decade, Jones won three gold medals and two bronzes at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

She had performed poorly since having a son with disgraced former 100 metres world record holder Tim Montgomery in 2003, but was making a comeback this year. with three of the six fastest 100 metres times in the world.

Although never charged with a doping offence, Jones had been under investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in connection with the BALCO laboratory doping scandal.

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