Marion Jones admitted using steroids before the 2000 Olympics in a recent letter to close family and friends, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

Jones, a triple gold medalist in Sydney, said she took “the clear” for two years, beginning in 1999, and that she got it from former coach Trevor Graham, the newspaper reported. Graham told her it was flaxseed oil.

“The clear” is a performance-enhancing drug linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

Until now, Jones had steadfastly denied she ever took any kind of performance-enhancing drugs.

Jones is scheduled to appear in U.S. Southern District Court on Friday to plead guilty to charges in connection with her steroid use, a federal law enforcement source told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, and would not provide specific details about the plea.

“I want to apologize for all of this,” the Post reported, quoting a person who received a copy of Jones’ letter and read it to the paper. “I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways.”

In her letter, Jones said she’d used performance-enhancing drugs until she stopped training with Graham at the end of 2002. She said she lied when federal agents questioned her in 2003, panicking when they presented her with a sample of “the clear,” which she recognized as the substance Graham had given her.

“Red flags should have been raised when he told me not to tell anyone,” the Post reported, quoting the letter.

No one answered the door at Jones’ Austin home yesterday evening, and a message left by the AP for a phone number registered to her husband, Obadele Thompson, was not immediately returned.

“It’s funky, because you wanted to believe she was clean,” said Jon Drummond, a gold medalist in the 400 relay in Sydney. “It’s like that old saying, ‘Cheaters never win.’ So no matter how glorious or glamorous things look, you’ll get caught and pay a price for it.

“It caught me by total surprise,” he added. “It’s a shock. I thought it was a closed case. It doesn’t help track and field at all, except maybe by letting the world know, people always get to the bottom of things. We shouldn’t be afraid of the truth, but it’s sad it came to this.”

The admission could cost Jones the five medals she won at the Sydney Olympics. Though she fell short of her goal of winning five gold medals, she came away with three and two bronzes and was one of the games’ biggest stars.