SpottedThinker

Story. I feel sorry for her. Having done nutritional programs for athletes I can tell you that many don't know what they are taking. Many of them have no interest in learning about nutrition, why would they if there's a nutrition professional advising them on their meals and feeding them supplements? I am glad to see the awareness of steroid abuse increase. There's really a lot to be said for simple, clean living.

The_Jazz

I don't feel sorry for her - at all.

She was married to CJ Hunter, who had multiple doping infractions.

She has a child by Tim Montgomery, who was a confirmed customer of BALCO. The fact that he doesn't have a postitive test but still was banned demonstrates that the testing lags behind the drug development 2-4 years.

Then there's the fact that she was stealing money from people.

Sorry, SpottedThinker, you will never convince me that Marion Jones is worthy of any pity. Post-Sydney, she decided her talent wasn't enough to keep her where she thought she belonged.

Typical sprinter.

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Willravel

Spoken like a true runner.

QuasiMondo

I don't feel sorry for her. I feel embarrassed like many of her former supporters who defended her. "Look at the B sample!" I screamed. Now I just feel like a damn fool.

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captobvious

I think it's safe to say that if we tested all professional and Olympic athletes, we'd find a large number who have taken steroids or other performance enhancers. Sadly, it's simply part of the sport now. People almost have to take them to stay competitive.

Bill O'Rights

So, I take it that you live in a "good" part of Chicago.

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highthief

Is there a top track star who is above suspicion?

In the case of Jones - the US "Golden Girl" - she was surrounded at all times by known roid users. Everyone outside of whatever network was carrying the Olympics snickered at her, because everyone not in denial knew.

I see Asafa Powell run ridiculus times and have to wonder ...

Some of the records that are on the books - Flo Jo's marks and those of some of the old Eastern Bloc - they've been there forever and are obviously juiced marks. Time to at least put an asterisk next to those times.

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Si vis pacem parabellum.

Ilow

yeah, the slow ones.
She knew what she was taking. this is the worst apology I have ever heard, I have no pity for her, she tried to make a lifestyle out of lying and threatening to sue everyone who accused her. I have to just say what I would say about Barry Bonds and the others taking steroids--what a loser.

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The_Jazz

I'd say most of the Kenyans and other Western Africans are pretty much above suspicion, mainly because they come up through the Junior competitions dominating the same way that they do on the "adult" circuits. Haile Gebresalassie has never been accused of doping, even by the Kenyans, who hate him.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

highthief

Oddly enough, she sued and settled out of court with Conte (the BALCO honcho) after he said he knew Jones took juice. So even though Conte was speaking the truth - because he provided her with the stuff and saw her take it - he got nailed financially by this lying little cow.

Unfortunately, the girl who finished second was the Greek girl who was subsequently busted for drug offences!

The IOC should simply declare there was no winner of the races Jones "won".

You'd like to hope so, but perhaps the means endurance athletes use to enhance performance are simply not as easy to uncover as those of strength and speed athletes.

Despite all the drug busts associated with cycling, has it not been the drugs geared to help on hills and sprints (like roids) that have been most common? Those drugs are useless (in fact, detrimental) for 100 pound 10,000 metre runners.

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The_Jazz

highthief, I'm not denying you may be right, but cycling is an endurance sport. The body-type that excels at cycling is similar to the prototypical distance runner.

Cyclists are typically busted for the same type of drugs that help endurance runners, i.e. blood doping. The Africans enjoy such an advantage over the rest of the world because of cultural differences, like running high milage from an early age as the usual method of transport.

Again, you may be right, but comparing cyclists to distance runners and saying they don't use the same type of drugs is a little misleading.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

highthief

That's not what I said. I said (asked, rather) if/that the drugs that cyclists have been busted for have not been the drugs that help them on the hills and sprints. I.e, Landis was done for Test, wasn't he? There was a Spanish rider too, done in for roids.

Of course, touring cyclists benefit from things such as blood doping, but off the top of my head, more of the ones I recall being caught have been ones using strength enhancement drugs, rather than the endurance drugs, perhaps suggesting that discovering the use of such drugs is easier than uncovering endurance type drugs.

Edit: Actually, according to Wikipedia, the largest number of cyclists were done for EPO, but there is a pretty big segment done for roids, test, or test-enhancing substances.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...oping_offences

I don't think ANY athlete, these days, can be above suspicion. Various knowledgeable people (from villains such as Conte or Charlie Francis, to clean athletes like Becky Scott trying to make their sports better) have suggested that the majority of finalists at Olympic games and World championships are taking some form of performance enhancer(s). I think that's probably likely, with athletes involved in raw speed and power events more likely to use.

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Si vis pacem parabellum.

cameroncrazy822

I think it's ironic that it took a woman to finally stand up and take her licks like a man!

I think it's ironic that it took a woman to finally stand up and take her licks like a man!

It's a start though... I don't feel sorry for her but am glad she stood up and did the right thing by admitting it.

Hopefully others will follow that path.

highthief

I'm sure the cash she makes off her movie of the week, book deal, and interviews to Oprah, 60 Minutes and The View will make things easier.

I wish she could not continue to profit from her cheating, but she is going to, even if she does a couple of months in Martha Stewart jail.

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Si vis pacem parabellum.

SpottedThinker

It said in the commentary on the site I posted with this story that she was the only woman to ever win three gold and two bronze, so I wonder who the best female is now?

highthief

Off the top of my head, Merlene Ottey has already won 8 Olympic track medals - and if she gets her bronzes and silvers moved up to golds, or if she has any fourth place finishes moved to bronze due to Jones and perhaps the Relay teams losing their medals, she'll rank even higher.

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Datalife2

I hope she and her trainer get a much worse penalty than what they said. She should be banned forever.

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ratbastid

She didn't. She got caught, they have her completely red-handed, and she decided to out herself in hopes of the officials and the court of public opinion going easier on her.

cameroncrazy822

People are caught red handed all the time my friend. She could have dragged it out forever all the while pleading her innocence. She did the right thing by admitting it even though not completely of her own volition.

She shouldn't have done period. In a perfect world would she have had a moment of clarity and outed herself without being caught first- yes. Will the money she makes from the movie(s), book(s), interview(s) make her punishment a bit less difficult to handle- yes.

With that said, this use of hgh is pervasive across gender and sport. A bunch of other people have also been implicated and veritably caught "red handed" but never came out and admitted to it.

She did the wrong thing and eventually stepped up to the plate without a long drawn out denial-fest intermingled with a dream team of attorneys.

Professional athletes take their performance and accomplishments very seriously since they spend the vast majority of their lives honing their craft into a world class caliber product.

She will pay her little debt to society, and she will also have long paper in the bank, but she will never again have what she has striven her whole life for... admiration and recognition for all her athletic feats. She now will no longer down in history as one of the best female Olympic athletes of all time.

And for folks like her that have dedicated and sacrificed and worked their butts off to achieve just that... the medals being taken away will be what she agonizes over on her death bed as opposed to being happy with all the money she made off the movies.

With all that said:
1. I don't feel th eleast bit sorry for her
2. What she did was completely wrong (even if everyone else is doing it- wrong is wrong)
3. Admitting she did it doesn't in any way shape or form make amends for cheating but stepping up is at least a start (along with the medals being rightfully stripped)

dlish

being a keen athletics fan ive always had my doubts about marion. i have no remorse for her. shes been associated with dopers for many years.

she played with fire and got burnt..if after 7 years. but her legacy has been soiled and her reputation tarnished. im glad, though i d hate to think shed make a bundle from her story too.
laws should be made like the terrorism cases where cant profit from your story if convicted. i think same deal applies

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Leto

At least Ben Johnson doesn't have to feel so lonely and exposed anymore. I wonder if Carl Lewis will have any surprise admissions.

dlish

he isnt lonely. hes in great company even before this scandal.

hmm lets see..ben johnson, carl lewis, linford christie, justin gatlin, dwayne chambers, tim montgomery, dennis mitchell...

and that only off the top of my head and only in the mens 100m sprint...

so do u still ask why i have no remorse for marion jones???

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I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy