WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- For years, Marion Jones angrily denied using steroids. On Friday, she admitted it was all a lie.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs, and announced her retirement after the hearing. Jones also pleaded guilty to a second count of lying to investigators about her association with a check-fraud scheme.

Outside the courthouse, Jones broke down in tears as she apologized for her actions, saying she fully understands she has disappointed her friends, family and supporters.

"It's with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust," Jones said, pausing frequently to regain her composure while her mother stood behind her, a supportive hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let [my family] down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down,'' she said. "I recognize that by saying I'm deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and hurt that I've caused you.

"Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Jones and her mother embraced afterward, the elder Jones telling her daughter, "Good job." The two then climbed into a black limousine with one of Jones' attorneys and drove away without taking questions.

I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after. By November 2003, I realized he [then-coach Trevor Graham] was giving me performance-enhancing drugs.

--Marion Jones

"It's bittersweet," said Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. "Any time a potential American hero admits to cheating us sports fans, people who watch Olympic games, it's bittersweet."

Friday marked a stunning fall from grace for Jones, once the most celebrated female athlete in the world. She captivated the country with the audacious goal of winning five gold medals at the Sydney Olympics. Though she fell short -- three golds but two bronzes -- her charm and winsome smile made her a star.

Seven years later, she is broke, her reputation is ruined and she is looking at prison time. Prosecutors have suggested to Jones that the prison term will be a maximum of six months, although the judge has the discretion to change that.

Medals in Jeopardy

The statute of limitations on doping cases is generally eight years, which would put Marion Jones' five medals (three golds and two bronzes) at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in jeopardy. She could also lose medals from the World Championships in 2001.

If Jones is stripped of her 2004 Olympic medals (the U.S. Olympic Committee declined to comment on whether Jones would lose her medals until legal proceedings are completed), Greece's Ekaterini Thanou will move up to the gold medal spot in the 100 meters, followed by Tanya Lawrence and Merlene Ottey of Jamaica.

Thanou was one of two Greek sprinters accused of missing a doping test and staging a motorcycle accident to avoid being tested on the night of the 2004 Athens Olympics opening ceremonies. In December 2004, Thanou and Costas Kenderis were banned for two years. In September, a Greek court postponed a perjury trial for Thanou and Kenderis until next June.

In the 200, Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas would get the gold, followed by Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka and Beverly McDonald of Jamaica. Jamaica, Russia and Nigeria would be the medalists in the women's 4x400 relay.

Two athletes would be awarded bronze medals in place of Jones: Tatiana Kotova of Russia in the long jump and France in the 4x100 relay.

Jones didn't win a medal in the 2004 Athens Games. She was fifth in the long jump, while the U.S. 4x100 relay team dropped the baton and was disqualified.

Ironically, Jones already lost a medal in the 2001 World Championships to doping charges against one of her teammates. She was on the team of Kelli White, Chryste Gaines and Inger Miller that won the gold, but White admitted to doping in 2004 and was stripped of her medals. Jones was second in the 100 in the 2001 Worlds; Thanou was third. She won the 200, followed by Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas and LaTasha Jenkins of the United States.

Jones did not medal in the 2003 or 2005 World Championships.

-- ESPN.com

In court, Jones, seated at the defense table and speaking in a clear voice through a microphone, said she lied to a federal investigator in November 2003 when he asked if she had used performance-enhancing drugs.

"I answered that I had not. This was a lie, your honor," she said.

Jones said she took steroids from September 2000 to July 2001 and said she was told by her then-coach Trevor Graham that she was taking flaxseed oil when it was actually "the clear."

"I consumed this substance several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after," Jones told the judge. "By November 2003, I realized he was giving me performance-enhancing drugs."

She said she "felt different, trained more intensely" and experienced "faster recovery and better times" while using the substance.

"He told me to put it under my tongue for a few seconds and swallow it," she said. "He told me not to tell anyone."

Jones was released on her own recognizance and was due back in court Jan. 11 for sentencing.

In the check-fraud scheme, Jones admitted lying about her knowledge of the involvement of Tim Montgomery, the father of her son Monty, in a scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged checks. Montgomery, Jones' longtime agent Charles Wells and former coach Olympian Steve Riddick, have all been convicted in the scam.

Prosecutors have suggested to Jones that the prison term will be a maximum of six months, although the judge has the discretion to change that. The maximum sentence on each count is five years and a $250,000 fine, for a total of 10 years and $500,000.

"This is a sad day for sport. The only good that can be drawn from today's revelations is that her decision to finally admit the truth will play we hope, a key part in breaking the back of the BALCO affair," IOC president Jacques Rogge said.

The International Olympic Committee already has opened an investigation into doping allegations against Jones in December 2004, and said Friday it will step up its probe and move quickly to strip her of her medals.

Under statute of limitations rules, the IOC and other sports bodies can go back eight years to strip medals and nullify results. In Jones' case, that would include the 2000 Olympics, where she won gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay.

"Her admission is long overdue and underscores the shame and dishonor that are inherent with cheating," U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said in a statement. "As further recognition of her complicity in this matter, Ms. Jones should immediately step forward and return the Olympic medals she won while competing in violation of the rules."

Jones also would have faced a long competition ban from USADA, but that could be a moot point with her retirement.

"You're vindicated, but it doesn't make you feel any happier this is going on," said Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency. "The fact that she was using the performance-enhancing drugs is not a surprise. People suspected strongly or knew, but couldn't prove the use."

'When something seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Suspicions and doping allegations have dogged Jones for years. Her ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, was busted for doping, and Montgomery was stripped of his world record in the 100 meters in connection with the BALCO case.

Jones herself was one of the athletes who testified before a grand jury in the BALCO investigation. And in August 2006, one of her urine samples tested positive for EPO, but she was cleared when a backup sample tested negative.

She had vehemently denied all doping allegations, even issuing this emphatic declaration in 2004: "I have never, ever used performance-enhancing drugs." She also sued Conte after he repeatedly accused Jones of using performance-enhancing drugs and said he watched her inject herself.

"It cost me a lot of money to defend myself," Conte said Thursday.

"'But I told the truth then, and I'm telling it now."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.