Anti-Doping Agency to meet Jones

Earlier, Jones's lawyer Joseph Burton had accused the USADA and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) of creating a "witch-hunt" in their efforts to send a clean team to the Athens Olympics in August.

In a letter addressed to USOC president Bill Martin and USADA's chief executive Terry Madden sent on May 18, Burton said Jones had been "forced to defend herself against hypothetical charges".

With pressure mounting, triple Olympic champion Jones has asked for a face-to-face meeting with USADA officials to answer all questions they may have about evidence in their possession.

Jones has also requested that any of her samples be retested by the USADA for the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) and any other banned substances. The USADA on Thursday acknowledged her request and agreed to a meeting.

"USADA has received the written request from Marion Jones's attorney, Mr Burton, which he made public today," Travis Tygart, USADA's director of legal affairs said in a statement.

"As USADA has informed Mr Burton, USADA is available to meet Ms Jones at her convenience. USADA has accepted Ms Jones's offer to meet for the purpose of her providing all relevant information she has concerning USADA's on-going investigation.

"USADA encourages any athlete or individual with knowledge relevant to its on-going investigation to contact us.

"USADA's intention is to handle all such contacts in a non-public manner. USADA is only commenting on the impending meeting with Ms Jones because her attorney chose to make it public."

DOPING STORM

In recent weeks Jones has found herself increasingly at the centre of the doping storm, under intense pressure to explain her relationship with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO)

That scrutiny intensified on Wednesday when Kelli White received a two-year suspension and was stripped of her 100 and 200 metres world championship gold medals after admitting using banned drugs.

White, Jones and her partner, 100 metres world record holder Tim Montgomery, were among the prominent athletes called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating BALCO.

In an apparent act of remorse, White, presented with undeniable evidence that she had been cheating, has volunteered to help USADA in its efforts to clean up the sport.

But Burton said in his letter: "Unfortunately, the highly public manner in which the USOC's current evidence gathering and evaluation methods have been carried out, as well as public statements attributed to the USOC or USADA that USADA may take the essentially unprecedented step of banning an athlete without evidence of a positive drug test or admission by that athlete, and further that USADA may bargain with athletes for their co-operation against others, have had the unintended consequence of creating a "witch-hunt" type atmosphere."

White is the first American athlete suspended without producing a positive test and her ban, based on admission and evidence turned up in the Justice Department's investigation into BALCO, has sent shock waves through the sport.

A defiant Jones said on Sunday she was prepared to file a lawsuit if USADA tried to stop her competing in Athens without proof of a positive test.