What happened? Why now??

I LOVED this woman, I was a huge fan!!!! This makes Spin very sad. Why is she now admitting it? Maybe she is broke and has noting left to lose?

off of reuters.com:

WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - U.S. Athletics superstar Marion Jones pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to federal investigators and admitted to using steroids, which could cost her the five medals she won in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

After years of publicly denying using performance-enhancing drugs, Jones, 31, admitted using a substance known as "the clear" before the 2000 Olympics.

"This was a lie, your honor, as I knew I had taken the substance," Jones told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, just north of New York City.

She pleaded guilty to two felonies -- lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and lying to them about a separate check fraud case.

Jones became the first athlete convicted in connection with the probe into the San Francisco-area laboratory BALCO, the center of a doping scandal that has tarnished the reputations of leading athletes in baseball, American football and athletics.

The Washington Post, citing a source familiar with Jones' legal situation, had reported that Jones admitted to steroid use in a letter she sent to close family and friends.

In the letter Jones said she took tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), also know as "the clear," for two years beginning in 1999 but believed it to be flaxseed oil.

"I want to apologize to you all for all of this," Jones said in the letter, according to the Post. "I am sorry for disappointing you all in so many ways."