Marion Jones fails to qualify for Olympic 100 metres
 

This can only lend credence to the thought that she was doing roids along with her husband and team-mates, and that her perfromance today is reflective of not utilizing performance enhancing drugs for fear of the new tests.

I wish there was some magic way to know who was on the steroids. I want to know who it's OK for me to dislike.

Pretty much everyone who has made the last several Olympic finals has been juiced. Just look at the times recently. With the men, we went from almost the entire field running under 10 seconds in Olympic or US National finals to maybe one or two guys making that standard (and then just barely) in the last 18 months once it was realized that the dope they could previously mask was detectable. At the 2003 Worlds, the winner ran 10.07 seconds, way, way above previous years because they went off the juice. Compare that to 2001, when 5 guys ran under 10 seconds - and I mean WAY under.

This year, expect times to remain slow by and large. There may still be some doping, but levels will be well below what they were in the past - until the next undetectable drug or masking agent comes along and you see the times improve again.

^I agree with everything he said

It's a shame... a real shame

I'm sure she will point to the undue stress of the doping investigation as the cause.

I have a strong inclination to agree with highthief's analysis.

I was shocked to learn that the US Olympic committee was covering up previous positive tests...

Either she or MOntgomery already did play that card.

She has a bit of an out in that she gave birth to a child 13 months ago. While some top athletes come back after childbirth very quickly, others don't.

Montgomery, on the other hand, looks like a child in terms of muscular development compared to previous years and didn't come close to making the team. He is definitely off the juice and running times that were world class 30 years ago!

The most proven way to test for doping is through blood testing. Urine testing just don't do it accurately. Bikers who ride pro domestic cycling and UCI are tested by blood alone now. Cycling is on the forefront of accessing who's doping and who's not. Known as the "Vampires", they swoop in on the riders usually at night a day or two before an event.

I haven't seen Marian Jones in a while...has her regimine perhaps declined like that of Jan Ulrich who took Gold in Olympic Road Race for Cycling...then his form all of a sudden after his season of competition ceases that he started putting weight on and had difficulty breaking his body composition down in the off season due to diet.

Perhaps this is Merians dilema?

I hope we find out if this ends up being the blind eye of justice making things right.

Same for Marian Jones, she looked great in the initial heats, but couldn't pull it together for the final.

In the initial heats he didn't look bad, but he completely fell apart in the finals.

Just test 'em all and ban them forever if it comes out positive.


Top 4 finishers in the 100 m final all finished in under 10 seconds, I'd really hate to think that Mo Green is doping, his ego seems too big for him to consider cheating? Or even 2 of the other kids who won.

The difference lies in how the doping works. Mo Greene is doping, IMO. That's just an opinion.

With the new generation of dope and masking, the athletes had been able to continue taking dope right up to near meet time - something they hadn't been able to do previously. Hence, everyone's times dropped dramatically and every race half the field was running 9.8 or 9.9. But since BALCO, they can't do that anymore.

In the days of Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson, you had to stop your cycle 28 days or so prior to competition in order to test clean. Johnson kept taking dope until almost competition and that's why he got nailed.

Today's athletes have simply reverted back to the tried and true method of dopping dope a month or so prior to competition. At least in countries where they don't really have out of competition testing. In other nations, athletes are being tested year round, including out of competition, making it difficult if not impossible to dope.

Of note, none of the 4 people associated with BALCO (Montgomery, Christie Whyte, Alvin Harrison and another runner) and formally charged made it to the Olympics. All failed at the trials, saving the IOC and USOC the embarassment of naming them to the team only to ban them a week or two later.