Marion Jones’ Fall From Grace Now Officially Complete
Posted October 4th, 2007 at 8:50 PM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Drugs In Sports
Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones, winner of 3 gold and 2 bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has finally acknowledged that she took steroids. In a letter to family and friends she admits to taking, beginning in 1999, a designer drug known as “The Clear” or THG (Tetrahydrogestrinone), a powerful anabolic steroid.
She also, according to a report in the Washington Post, “plans to plead guilty tomorrow in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her drug use and an unrelated financial matter.” Jones is still, however, insisting upon using the ignorance defense, claiming that she thought she was taking flaxseed oil, a nutritional supplement, even though she “said she noticed changes in how her body felt and how she was able to recover from workouts.”
THG has been at the center of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) drug scandal for years. THG is, according to Wikipedia, an incredibly potent drug, “surpassing, on a milligram per milligram basis, every known synthesized or commercial available anabolic steroid.”
USATF President Craig Masback has released a statement about this report on the USATF website:
“Anything that exposes the truth about drug use in sport is good for ensuring the integrity of sport. While USATF has no knowledge of any letter or pending plea agreement regarding Marion Jones, we continue our long-stated support for the efforts of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the federal government in their investigations. Any use of performance-enhancing substances is a tragedy for the athlete, their teammates, friends, family and the sport. We await any further developments on this matter.”
Pundits on the Track & Field News message board are speculating that the record books and medal histories are about the be rewritten. If this is true, dozens of the best marks in the history of track & field set by Jones between 1999 and 2000, could be wiped off the record books.
Sources: [Washington Post][USATF][Wikipedia][Track & Field News]
Related Stories:
- IAAF Annuls all Marion Jones Results from September 2000
- IOC, IAAF move forward on Marion Jones doping case
- Lauryn Williams on Marion Jones and News Media
- Jearl Miles Clark Releases Statement Regarding Former Teammate Marion Jones
- Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones admits to steroid use
Tags: 100m, 200m, BALCO, bay area laboratory co operative, clear, Craig A. Masback, doping, drug use, flaxseed oil, Marion Jones, message boards, nutrional supplement, running forums, steroid, sydney olympics, the clear, THG, track and field news, USA Track & Field, usatf, washington post
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The Final Sprint
Despite her use of steroids, she should not be stripped of her medals. However, she should be banned from competition. Afterall, steroids or not, it took her hardwork to win the medal. You can go watch her races. Steroids or not, the amount of training put in is still phenomenal and she should keep the medal.
October 5th, 2007 at 10:07 amYou can see a video of her race here: snupped.com/marion-jones/
As a former olympic youth embassador i have quite strong veiws on these situations, yet i believe each person, athlete or not, can see the faults and damage that performance enhancing drugs has on sport. The olympics are meant to be about friendship, fairplay, tollerance and yes ofcourse healthy competition, however by succumbing to the pressure of taking drugs Jones has made a concious decision not to cooperate with the rules and ideals of the olympics. She should be fairly tried and suffer the concequences for her actions. I admire her courage to finally admit her fault, yet this does not excuse her actions. She has disgraced the sport and in particular younger athletes who see her as a role model. The bar has been set at an unreachable high through the use of drugs.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:11 amIn reply to Mathew’s comment; consider this simple statement; every athlete trains hard but not every athlete takes performance enhancing drugs.
I feel sympathy for Jones as the pressure to take performance enhancing drugs is undoubtably strong, but i do feel there is sufficent reason to strip her of her medals.