I don’t follow track much any more and I’m too lazy to do my own research, but what’s the latest on her? Is she banned, suing or what.
I know that you’re innocent until proven guilty but I’d doubt if her or most anyone else in the sprint events is clean. Admittedly he was a power lifter but didn’t her ex husband fail four drug tests or so?
Of course FloJo never took any roids.
Well, her ex was linked to BALCO. Her current man (I think it is Tim Montgomery) is linked to BALCO based on what I heard last night. Consequently, I think she is presumed guilty by many at this point. If she never returns to her same level, the debate will be whether it was the lack of drugs or childbirth that caused her decline.
God I wish I still had the ability I had in my 20’s to naively cling to the innocent until proven guilty line. I’m really not buying it these days. Oh, I still want justice to take its course, and until it does, I’ll maintain that she and the rest of these folks have every right to continue to compete. . .I just don’t have a huge amount of faith that these reports piling up are false. I don’t have faith that we’re going to find out they’re innocent, that’s all.
Some call this cynicism. I call it facing reality. I’m plenty optomistic in most areas of life. But I’m not falling for the banana in the tailpipe these days. . .
She has not been banned, as so far there has been no evidence of wrongdoing on her part.
She has not been banned, as so far there has been no evidence of wrongdoing on her part.
Depends on what you define as “evidence.” If “evidence” means a positive test, then no. If “evidence” means her name shows up on shipment invoices, emails, dosage schedules and third-party lab results…well, let’s just say she’s in a heap of a tough spot right now. She may be able to hold onto “deniability” for the rest of her life due to the lack of a positive test, but I’m betting she doesn’t go to Athens.
And despite her lawyer’s posturing to the contrary, US courts will not even hear her case. She cannot file a lawsuit; she must go through the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Regina Jacobs already tried the lawsuit route, and her lawsuit was summarily tossed out of CA District Court (in her home city, no less).
Depends on what you define as “evidence.” If “evidence” means a positive test, then no. If “evidence” means her name shows up on shipment invoices, emails, dosage schedules and third-party lab results…well, let’s just say she’s in a heap of a tough spot right now.
You forgot to include ‘allegedly’ in there somewhere 
It will be interesting to see what happens.
“She has not been banned, as so far there has been no evidence of wrongdoing on her part.”
so far all i’ve heard her say, and she repeats this over and over, is that she’s been tested X number of times and she’s never had a positive result. one isn’t cheating only when one gets a positive result. one is cheating when one takes a banned substance. balco’s synthetic anabolic steroid was designed to allow athletes to sidestep a positive result. ergo, marion (or any balco customer) could conceivably take anabolics and still test negative. that wouldn’t mean she’s in the clear. under USADA’s rules as i understand them, you don’t have to test positive to be found guilty of a drug infraction.
while she, or anyone, could of course still lie, i’d be happier if she stopped repeating the refrain that she’s never tested positive and start simply saying she hasn’t taken any banned substances.
while she, or anyone, could of course still lie, i’d be happier if she stopped repeating the refrain that she’s never tested positive and start simply saying she hasn’t taken any banned substances.
Me too.
“She has not been banned, as so far there has been no evidence of wrongdoing on her part.”
so far all i’ve heard her say, and she repeats this over and over, is that she’s been tested X number of times and she’s never had a positive result. one isn’t cheating only when one gets a positive result. one is cheating when one takes a banned substance. balco’s synthetic anabolic steroid was designed to allow athletes to sidestep a positive result. ergo, marion (or any balco customer) could conceivably take anabolics and still test negative. that wouldn’t mean she’s in the clear. under USADA’s rules as i understand them, you don’t have to test positive to be found guilty of a drug infraction.
while she, or anyone, could of course still lie, i’d be happier if she stopped repeating the refrain that she’s never tested positive and start simply saying she hasn’t taken any banned substances.
"while she, or anyone, could of course still lie, i’d be happier if she stopped repeating the refrain that she’s never tested positive and start simply saying she hasn’t taken any banned substances. "
She did say this while being interviewed on NBC.
Paraphrase: “I’ve never tested positive, nor have I ever taken illegal drugs, and I never will.”
And Julian, where did you read that her name was on shipment invoices, etc.? That is bad news.
I’m hoping she is and always will be clean.
And Julian, where did you read that her name was on shipment invoices, etc.? That is bad news
San Jose Mercury News and SF Chronicle reported that such documentation exists for a number of athletes. They included Jones’ name on the list of athletes to whom (all or some of) this evidence applies.
The authorities also using the Enron approach of getting people to roll over one at a time. Kelli rolls; rats out person X; person X rolls; rats out person Y; and so it goes. How far does it go? Time will tell. Frankly, I hope it gets really, really ugly.
You hit that right on Dan.
The BALCO product was created to beat the tests since there were no tests for it. It still would not be kown about had it not been for the personal trainer that took the syringe with the product and turned it in.
My question is how many more similar products are out there that we don’t know about yet?
I also strongly agree with the “I have never tested positive” statement. Sounds more like " I have never been caught."
Julian,
While I do hope things get cleared up (as you say, get really ugly!), I really do hope Marion isn’t a part. But, we shall see.
Slowman writes, "so far all i’ve heard her say, and she repeats this over and over, is that she’s been tested X number of times and she’s never had a positive result. "
From the New York Times, 5/17/2004, "Marion Jones, the gold-medal sprinter and beleaguered queen of track and field, sat alone under the klieg lights of the Olympic Team Media Summit yesterday in New York and denied again that she used steroids. … " (I can’t get any more of the article). She has also demanded that her stored blood and urine samples be retested to show she wasn’t using THG. So I ask you, what more can she do to clear herself.
As to saying she hasn’t tested positive over saying she hasn’t taken banned substances. While the latter statement has more weight to someone knowledgeable in the field, to the lay public, the statement that you never tested positive would carry more weight than a simple denial of use since the not testing positive shows firm evidence of innocence rather than a self-serving declaration “I didn’t do it.”
“She has also demanded that her stored blood and urine samples be retested to show she wasn’t using THG. So I ask you, what more can she do to clear herself.”
after several weeks or a very few months the samples are discarded. we’d ALL like to see past samples retested, but unfortunately they’re not around to be retested and i think everybody knows that.
i’m a marion jones fan. i’m reacting to those statements she’s made that i’ve personally seen or read. i’ve been reading some pretty damning stuff in the papers. maybe through direct statements from those at balco she can be exhonerated. i hope so.
“a very few months the samples are discarded. we’d ALL like to see past samples retested, but unfortunately they’re not around to be retested and i think everybody knows that.”
I thought that starting at the last Olympics the samples were being stored for exactly this type of retesting. I could be wrong about it, but that was my understanding. I know UCI has been doing that for cycling.
It appears that she has not tested positive or been videotaped injecting steroids but she did write a check to balco for $7,350.
Of course her lawyers deny she wrote the check or endorsed it.
And of course her noble gesture of offering to have old urine samples retested for THG is negated since there are no samples to test.
This does not mean she is guilty, but the excuses that all of the Balco athletes are coming up with to explain away all of the “coincidences” sounds like Darryl Strawberry trying to deny the crack in his glovebox.
Whether it is Crack or Nandrolone, these people have a drug problem.
Barry Bonds and Marion Jones can make all the excuses and denials they want but eventually the coincidences and implausible excuses leave them with all of the credibility of a strung out Darryl Strawberry, regardless of a court verdict.
It appears that she has not tested positive or been videotaped injecting steroids but she did write a check to balco for $7,350.
The signature on the check is that of her ex-husband, not hers. He was busted a few years back for testing positive, then retired.
Years ago they said that the users where miles ahead of the testers and the authorities in terms of the sophistication of the drugs they where using ie. they were so cutting edge, that they were not even on any banned list or the testers had not even developed a test for the drug yet.
Now the gap has narrowed somewhat and the testers/authorities are making serious headway. Of course it helps, when there are inside whistle blowers as seems to be the case here.
I’m sure I’ll get slammed for this, and probably deservedly so…but should we consider letting a certain subset of our population go ahead and take drugs? Let’s let them dope up all they want and see just how far the human body can be pushed. It would be cool to see just what the body is capable of. If every elite athlete is doing the drugs then it’s still a fair playing field.
I mean look at what drugs have done for art/music. Some of the best work ever created was with the assistance of mind-altering drugs. Many artists who go clean just do not put out the quality of work clean as they did stoned. I think all singer/songwriters, artists, actors…should be allowed to take whatever drug they want provided they continue to put out quality, thought provoking work. Once they start to fade, take them off the dope and into rehab.
Okay, I am being a tad facetious…but it’s something to consider.