The Rise and Fall of Track Star Marion Jones

[smartarse]

At first it was a supposed rumor. Now, it's an unfortunate truth.

Track star Marion Jones pleaded guilty Friday to lying to a federal investigator about taking banned substances.
"It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you I have betrayed your trust," she said outside the courthouse Friday.
"Making these false statements to federal agents was an incredibly stupid thing for me to do, and I am responsible fully for my actions." She asked for forgiveness, adding that she understood that a simple apology "might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and the hurt I have caused you." - CNN


http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/10/05/jones.doping/index.html


*What a shame. She had the overall package: beauty and athletism.

*image 1: theage.com.au
*image 2: theindex.hr

 

[misssakura]

But wasn't it because her coach said that it was flaxseed oil, not a performance enhancer?

 

[kalli]

I don`t feel sorry for her,it`s a waste of talent but that`s all her fault.

 

[justlooking]

she was so charming and cute during the sydney games. i loved her! what a disappointment.

 

[pinkvogue]

I feel sorry for her. I think she was a very talented person who made a poor decision. At least she was brave enough to admit her mistake. I wish her the best during this difficult time.

 

[smartarse]

But wasn't it because her coach said that it was flaxseed oil, not a performance enhancer?

yes. when Marion was first accused of using "steriods" both she and her coach vehemently denied it and said it was flaxseed oil or something like it.

She was one of my favorite track and field star for years, along side the Great Flo Jo. But truly a disappointment and a letdown. At least she came forward unlike certain Pro Baseball player/s who continue to dodge allegations so he can bask in the glory of his fake wins.

 

[wrngco]

did it take them long enough to prove this ? I guess in 20 years Barry B will be proved guilty too

 

[Ferdinanda]

Aww I liked her.

 

[iluvjeisa]

Most of the winners do it, of course, pretty much in any game of sports.

 

[smartarse]

did it take them long enough to prove this ? I guess in 20 years Barry B will be proved guilty too

@ Barry B in 20 yrs.

The Olympic Community certainly are more stringent and hardliners when it comes to athletes cheating with banned substances. They will get you and get you hard. I guess it's because of its International officials. Whereas, in Professional Ball players in America for instance, are more of a capitalist basking in profits and investors. They will often play softee and look the other way. To me you're not a true athlete and dont care how many records you break. The likes of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrigs are long gone. These are the men worth the accolades and records that will remain legit in history.

 

[iluvjeisa]

I guess we don't really know what they did to themselves though. Considering the chemicals have been popular during wars for stamina - can't go into detail about that. Oftentimes you look into history and find that no - it's not just horrible modern folks who did bad things. It's just human nature - no make that just plain nature.

In away I'm for that they can do whatever they want to themselves as long as they don't sabotage for others. Because otherwise we are just obviously cheering for the sociopaths and cheaters. We cannot test for everything, there's always going to be things they can take that they're not testing for.

 

[silk skin paws]

I'm indifferent. Professional athletes are pushed to the limit. Sometimes they crack under the pressure and look for a short cut or an easy way out.

 

[smartarse]

^ professional athletes nowadays are blinded by $$$$ and record breakers that comes with endorsements attached to their names. that's why they will cheat their way to that windfall. if the games were played like it was in Babe Ruth's and the ALL-TIMER's time where the male fans wore fedoras, suits and ties, and the females wore dresses and hats to watch a game, and money is not the object of the game but THE Game itself then there wont be any cheaters disgracing the sport.

 

[smartarse]

Update...

Marion Jones gives back all of her 5 Olympic medals.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-jones-doping&prov=ap&type=lgns


*now she will be remembered as fraud. stigma you dont want to carry with you forever.

 

[kimair]

as someone who ran track competitively in high school and in college, i don't believe that most athletes are taking some kind of banned substance...
there is certain level of natural ability that marion jones had but to stay on top, you need to work hard, just like in any thing else...

i was a pretty good runner...i was all-state in high school and all-conference and an all-american in college, but i knew the limits of my abilities and i knew that i was never going to compete at the level of someone like marion jones...

when you are at that level, there is immense pressure to stay at that level...
especially in a sport where youth is valued and you're looking over your shoulder to see who is coming up behind you...
in track, most of your income comes from endorsements and appearance fees, and you don't get either of those unless you're on top...
track is like any other sport...
you're not going to do it for the rest of your life, so you better save your money for the next stage...
when marion saw she was falling behind, she should have quit...she could have gone into broadcasting like michael johnson or carol lewis...

i don't feel sorry for marion mainly because there are track and field athletes out there that are successful without taking banned substances...
the bottom line is she was looking for a shortcut and now she's paying the price...
it does suck...she was someone i admired as well...
yes, it's great that she stepped forward now, but she should have as soon as she discovered what was going on...
now the people that ran with her on the gold medal relay teams might have to give back their medals too, which is totally unfair (to the ones that didn't do anything...yahoo reported 2 of her medal teammates have served previous bans for violating the performance enhancing policy)...

 

[smartarse]

....now the people that ran with her on the gold medal relay teams might have to give back their medals too, which is totally unfair (to the ones that didn't do anything...yahoo reported 2 of her medal teammates have served previous bans for violating the performance enhancing policy)...

really? i didnt know that. wow.

 

[Ferdinanda]

Oh my...

 

[jml2]

I feel sorry for the people who devoted their lives to sport and competed against her and didn't cheat

 

[Zen]

^ I was thinking about that too. Imagine how that one person who competed against her who came second, but truely deserved to be placed first.

 

[iluvjeisa]

as someone who ran track competitively in high school and in college, i don't believe that most athletes are taking some kind of banned substance...
there is certain level of natural ability that marion jones had but to stay on top, you need to work hard, just like in any thing else...

i was a pretty good runner...i was all-state in high school and all-conference and an all-american in college, but i knew the limits of my abilities and i knew that i was never going to compete at the level of someone like marion jones...

when you are at that level, there is immense pressure to stay at that level...
especially in a sport where youth is valued and you're looking over your shoulder to see who is coming up behind you...
in track, most of your income comes from endorsements and appearance fees, and you don't get either of those unless you're on top...
track is like any other sport...
you're not going to do it for the rest of your life, so you better save your money for the next stage...
when marion saw she was falling behind, she should have quit...she could have gone into broadcasting like michael johnson or carol lewis...

i don't feel sorry for marion mainly because there are track and field athletes out there that are successful without taking banned substances...
the bottom line is she was looking for a shortcut and now she's paying the price...
it does suck...she was someone i admired as well...
yes, it's great that she stepped forward now, but she should have as soon as she discovered what was going on...
now the people that ran with her on the gold medal relay teams might have to give back their medals too, which is totally unfair (to the ones that didn't do anything...yahoo reported 2 of her medal teammates have served previous bans for violating the performance enhancing policy)...

I have no doubt that athletes under the professional level are often free of "use". It's the top athletes (20-30 top) that I have doubts about. As you say, it must be very tempting...and there are new substances that are not yet disallowed that suddenly become disallowed.

Thanks for the insights, btw, warms the heart to know some people play fair