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Jones shocks the world
The foundations of the sporting world were given a huge jolt last Friday with the admission by American sprinter Marion Jones that she had taken the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone known as THG or 'the clear'.
As one who has followed Jones' career since she was a 16-year-old junior athlete and has consistently defended her in the past as a talented athlete who did not need drugs to perform well, the news was a personal shock.
Seven years ago, Jones was the face of the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Australia. Everywhere one went in the Australian Olympic city there were pictures of the American star. There were photographs of Jones on billboards, at the airport, on bus stops and in train stations. All the hype was about the very good-looking megastar and her bid to win five gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100m and 4x400m. It was as if no other sport mattered.
Best medal haul
She did not get the five gold medals but still ended up with an outstanding haul of three gold and two bronze to become the first female athlete to ever win so many medals at one Olympics. Her performances, in fact her very presence, ensured a packed Olympic stadium and huge television audiences. Now everyone who went to Sydney and witnessed her performances will feel they have all been duped by a fraud.
The sport of track and field has suffered severe damage less than a year before the Beijing Games. Fingers will now be pointing in every direction. Jones, who celebrates her 32nd birthday on Friday, had, in the past, strongly denied that she had ever taken drugs. No one knows now if the person who denies drug taking will not make a similar confession in the future.
With the sprinter admitting that she took the steroids from September 2000 to July 2001, Jamaica's medal tally from the 2000 Games and the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada could eventually show an improvement in both quality and quantity.
Merlene Ottey, who was fourth in the 100m in Sydney won by Jones, could now move up to bronze and third past the line, Tayna Lawrence, up to silver. Beverley McDonald, who was fourth in the 200m , is likely to now get third and the bronze medal. The women's 4x400m team, which placed second, could now, belatedly, earn Jamaica's first ever female relay gold medal at the Olympics.
First golds
Five of the six women who made up the relay squad, Sandie Richards, Catherine Scott-Pomales, Lorraine Graham and Charmaine Howell and Michelle Burgher, who ran in the heats, would collect Olympic gold medals for the first time. The final member of the squad, 400m hurdler Deon Hemmings, had won an individual gold in her pet event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
When one looks back at the split times for the 4x400m in Sydney, there is little doubt that Jones made a big difference to the performance of the American team. The times for each leg showed (Jamaicans named first) Richards 51.14 - Jearl Miles-Clark 50.86; Scott-Pomales 51.18 - Monique Hennagan 51.57; Hemmings 51.30 - Jones 49.46; Graham 49.63 - LaTasha Colander-Richardson 50.73.
Jones had by far the fastest split, faster than Graham-Fenton who had clocked 49.58 for silver in the individual 400m. Graham-Fenton's leg was almost 1.2 seconds faster than that of Colander-Richardson, yet Jamaica finished second because of the very good leg by the 'souped-up' Jones.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) still has a huge mountain to climb if it hopes to rid the sport of drug taking. Jones still does not have a proven positive test for performance-enhancing drugs. It means the drug cheats are still one step ahead of the administrators and many dishonest athletes could still be out there reaping rich rewards.
The foundations of the sporting world were given a huge jolt last Friday with the admission by American sprinter Marion Jones that she had taken the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone known as THG or 'the clear'.
As one who has followed Jones' career since she was a 16-year-old junior athlete and has consistently defended her in the past as a talented athlete who did not need drugs to perform well, the news was a personal shock.
Seven years ago, Jones was the face of the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Australia. Everywhere one went in the Australian Olympic city there were pictures of the American star. There were photographs of Jones on billboards, at the airport, on bus stops and in train stations. All the hype was about the very good-looking megastar and her bid to win five gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100m and 4x400m. It was as if no other sport mattered.
Best medal haul
She did not get the five gold medals but still ended up with an outstanding haul of three gold and two bronze to become the first female athlete to ever win so many medals at one Olympics. Her performances, in fact her very presence, ensured a packed Olympic stadium and huge television audiences. Now everyone who went to Sydney and witnessed her performances will feel they have all been duped by a fraud.
The sport of track and field has suffered severe damage less than a year before the Beijing Games. Fingers will now be pointing in every direction. Jones, who celebrates her 32nd birthday on Friday, had, in the past, strongly denied that she had ever taken drugs. No one knows now if the person who denies drug taking will not make a similar confession in the future.
With the sprinter admitting that she took the steroids from September 2000 to July 2001, Jamaica's medal tally from the 2000 Games and the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada could eventually show an improvement in both quality and quantity.
Merlene Ottey, who was fourth in the 100m in Sydney won by Jones, could now move up to bronze and third past the line, Tayna Lawrence, up to silver. Beverley McDonald, who was fourth in the 200m , is likely to now get third and the bronze medal. The women's 4x400m team, which placed second, could now, belatedly, earn Jamaica's first ever female relay gold medal at the Olympics.
First golds
Five of the six women who made up the relay squad, Sandie Richards, Catherine Scott-Pomales, Lorraine Graham and Charmaine Howell and Michelle Burgher, who ran in the heats, would collect Olympic gold medals for the first time. The final member of the squad, 400m hurdler Deon Hemmings, had won an individual gold in her pet event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
When one looks back at the split times for the 4x400m in Sydney, there is little doubt that Jones made a big difference to the performance of the American team. The times for each leg showed (Jamaicans named first) Richards 51.14 - Jearl Miles-Clark 50.86; Scott-Pomales 51.18 - Monique Hennagan 51.57; Hemmings 51.30 - Jones 49.46; Graham 49.63 - LaTasha Colander-Richardson 50.73.
Jones had by far the fastest split, faster than Graham-Fenton who had clocked 49.58 for silver in the individual 400m. Graham-Fenton's leg was almost 1.2 seconds faster than that of Colander-Richardson, yet Jamaica finished second because of the very good leg by the 'souped-up' Jones.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) still has a huge mountain to climb if it hopes to rid the sport of drug taking. Jones still does not have a proven positive test for performance-enhancing drugs. It means the drug cheats are still one step ahead of the administrators and many dishonest athletes could still be out there reaping rich rewards.
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