NEW YORK -- Marion Jones wants to win more championships and
medals, and outrun the doping allegations that have hounded her for
the last several years.
The problem is, she may never accomplish any of that.
The 30-year-old Jones is preparing to run the 100 meters at the
Reebok Grand Prix on Saturday in her first race in the United
States in more than a year. Though she has her eyes set on the U.S.
championships later this month and Beijing in 2008, the reality is
that the former Olympic champion is eight years older than reigning
world champ Lauryn Williams.
She has battled one injury after another, making last season her
worst. Though she is now healthy, Jones will be the oldest one in
her race in New York, going against a strong field that includes
Williams, Olympic 200 champ Veronica Campbell and 2003 world
champion Torri Edwards.
Her fastest time of the year, 11.06 in her opening meet in
Mexico, is adequate but she must run faster to have any chance of
winning titles again. Then there are the questions about BALCO that
dog her at every turn.
Jones is a realist. She knows the allegations always will haunt
her. Though she is steadfast in her denial of using
performance-enhancing drugs, the constant questions get to her. She
thought about quitting. But those were only fleeting moments.
"I don't believe in being forced out of a situation when I know
I'm right," Jones said. "I feel like I still have more to achieve
in the sport. I really don't think I would be able to sleep at
night knowing I left it all behind, that I ran away from a
situation that has been extremely difficult."
Jones last ran in her home country at the Kansas Relays in April
2005, and her late entry to the New York meet was announced Friday.
She began a comeback last month by winning the 100 in Mexico and
the Netherlands. She said she felt "powerful" in the race in
Mexico for the first time in a long while.
That race was her first after an 11-month absence during which
she battled injuries and doping allegations.
Jones never has tested positive for drugs and repeatedly has
denied using banned substances, but remains under investigation as
part of the BALCO doping scandal. BALCO founder Victor Conte
accused Jones of using banned substances.
"A perfect world would be to click my heels and it would all
disappear and I could really focus on what I want to do, but the
reality is you don't know if it will ever happen," she said.
"Beyond all that I still have to live my life. My life doesn't
stop because there are people who say whatever or think whatever. I
can't spend too much time being concerned about that."
Jones won five medals, including three gold, at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics but was shut out of medals at the 2004 Athens Games. She
attempted to qualify for the U.S. world championships team in 2005,
walking off the track before the 100 preliminaries with a hip
injury.
Several other top athletes will be racing Saturday, including
co-world record holder Justin Gatlin in the 100. Gatlin, who won
Olympic gold in the 100 and is the reigning world champion in the
100 and 200, was born in Brooklyn and lived there until he was 9.
He will have about 30 friends and family in the stands cheering
him.
Gatlin knows his success this season has not only helped him,
but the image of the sport.
"I have a talent that should be watched and not taken for
granted," he said. "I think that helps people outside track and
field grasp the concept that we're not just workhorses, we're not
all people injected with steroids. We really, truly have talent."
Still, most of the attention might be on Jones as she continues
her quest to get back to the top.
"It's been a really difficult three or four years," Jones
said. "I could fool myself into believing none of the outside
pressures played an effect on how I was feeling. But I'm not
superwoman, things affect me. I'm seeing now there's some light at
the end of the tunnel, that things can only get better."