More drug news: the Golden Darling comes up hot
21 August 2006If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Marion Jones was the golden darling of the media a six scant years ago when she swept the track and field board, winning three gold medals at the 2000 Olympic Games. Deservedly so as she was sound-bite perfect: tall and attractive, well-spoken and intelligent, head and shoulders better than the rest of the world. The only cloud in her silver lining was that she missed winning that elusive fourth gold medal. After Sydney the world was her proverbial oyster: endorsement offers poured in from corporate sponsors. Her appearance fee quadrupled overnight and she commanded $100,000 to compete on the lucrative European track and field circuit. The only discordant note was the whispered grumbling of stateside competitors and coaches: “She uses drugs we tell you.” Pathetic sour grapes mouthed by losers and whiners her people retorted. The Marion Jones money train rolled on until her husband CJ was busted for steroids. How is it (the naysayers contend) that a husband-athlete can use ‘roids while the wife-athlete remain ignorant? Happens all the time her people retorted. With that Marion divorced CJ, seemingly in a show of shock and disgust that her old man was a drug abuser. This quieted critics. Marion was so outraged and disgusted with her spouse that she dumped his drug-abusing butt. Still there was a nagging suspicion that something was rotten in Denmark. Then came the Balco scandal and when it was revealed that Marion had forwarded several large checks to Victor Conte the question loomed large: “Why?” What possible explanation could there be for multi-thousand dollar checks written by Marion to Victor? Marion’s defense was, basically, I have no good reason as to why I wrote Victor big checks but you have zero proof that I obtained illegal substances in return. Coincidentally her running times dropped dramatically and while she ran 10.65 before Balco she couldn’t break 11-seconds afterwards. Lots of reasons were offered up. Fast forward to June of 2006. This from the AP wire…
Marion Jones failed an initial doping test at the U.S. national championships in June, according to a newspaper report. The five-time Olympic medalist’s “A” sample tested positive for a banned performance enhancer at the event in Indianapolis, The Washington Post reported Friday night on its Web site, citing people with knowledge of the results who were not identified. Testing on Jones’ second urine sample has not been completed, the sources told the paper. Jones would only be charged with a doping violation — and face a two-year ban from track and field — if the “B” sample also turns up positive. A person familiar with the results told the Post that the substance was erythropoietin, or EPO, a banned performance-enhancer that boosts endurance. The 30-year-old Jones withdrew from the Weltklasse Golden League meet on Friday, citing “personal reasons.” Meet director Hans Jeorg Wirz said Jones received a morning telephone call from the United States that prompted her decision. No further details were given. She was not invited to this year’s Golden League final in Berlin on Sept. 3 because of links to former coach Trevor Graham, who is under investigation by track and field’s ruling body and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Other athletes who trained under Graham also were not invited. Graham is the coach of Olympic and world 100-meter champion Gatlin, who faces a lifetime ban for his failed drug test. Several other athletes coached by Graham have been suspended for doping.
I have heard secondhand that Ms. Jones has disappeared. The scuttlebutt is that this disappearance could be for legal purposes: IOC drug-testing bylaws state that the athlete has a “right to be present” for the testing of the “B” sample. Theoretically if the athlete cannot be found the B sample cannot be tested or, alternatively, if the B sample is tested without the athlete present this sets up a legal argument that the B sample test must be thrown out. No doubt Ms. Jones has access to some high-powered legal consul and no doubt unless the governing sports body has every T crossed and every I dotted they will be in for a world of courtroom hurt. On the other hand, given her disgraced husband, her disgraced coach, her Balco checks (who knows what beans Conte has spilled in secret grand jury testimony?) and her own drug bust, the tail is about to be pinned on this donkey. If it walks like a duck, squawks like a duck and waddles like a duck.
Tags:Popularity: 3% [?]
Related Posts:
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
