Paula Radcliffe believes Marion Jones should be banned from athletics for life and have her Olympic medals taken away following the revelation she is a drugs cheat.

Jones' admission to a New York court yesterday that she had used THG during her glittering career has sent shockwaves through the sport.

The highlight of the 32-year-old's career came when she won five medals at the 2000 Olympic Games, including both the 100 and 200 metre titles.

The confession by the former golden girl of world sprinting she is a cheat has been described by former British Athletics coaching supremo Frank Dick as equally damaging to athletics as the Ben Johnson scandal.

The Canadian sprinter was stripped of his 100m gold medal from the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and banned for two years after testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanazolol.

Radcliffe, who has always taken a high-profile stance against drug cheats, believes maximum sanctions should be levied against Jones - although she has already announced her retirement from the sport.

These would be in addition to the six months imprisonment she is facing after lying to US federal officers investigating her involvement into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) in 2003.

She denied having been supplied with THG by the San Francisco-based company, whose exposure saw a dozen world-class athletes, including Britain's European 100m champion Dwain Chambers, receive suspensions.

Radcliffe said: "I believe sanctions should be increased to four years (suspension) and in a case like this a lifetime ban should be imposed.

"We should be pleased. One of the biggest frauds has been caught. Her medals should also be taken away."

Radcliffe acknowledged the credibility of track and field will again be hugely affected, but insists catching cheats must remain a top priority.

The world marathon record holder added: "In the long run I think it is good for the sport. There was always speculation she was a drug cheat and this has cleared it up.

"Let's remember, she wouldn't have been caught if there had not been FBI involvement and those of other agencies.

""We have to keep drug testing moving forward. Sport and government agencies need to continue working together.

"There are others out there still getting away with it. She is by no means the only one. But it is not true all athletes use drugs either."

Radcliffe, a member of the IAAF's Athletes Commission which has discussed at length the problem of drug use, earlier spoke about the need for an even tougher anti-doping programme.

She said: "I think the key is that we are making progress. It is moving forward.

"I think, as most of the clean athletes are going to say to you, it's not where it needs to be yet, but we are getting there.

"It still needs improvements in the testing.

There's a lot more research going into it, the blood profiling they're doing is working in terms of they know a lot more where to target now.

"But we still need to improve the accuracy of the testing.

"I think there are so many things out there that apparently can be out of the system so fast that it is a little bit hit and miss.

"You just keep testing and testing. We have seen evidence of that happening over the last year or so, people being caught. I think that is working as a bigger deterrent.

"I think we as athletes need to cooperate as much as possible, which is what we're trying to do on the IAAF Athletes Commission."