Radio New Zealand News is reporting
Disgraced Sprinter Jones To Give Tell-All Interview
The disgraced sprinter Marion Jones recalls her ill-fated decision to lie to US authorities about her doping in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow.
Jones’ appearance on the “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” is her first major interview since she was released from a federal prison after serving a six-month sentence for perjury.
She never failed a drug test but lied to prosecutors about her use of the once-undetectable designer steroid THG.
A year ago she pleaded guilty to two charges of making false statements in 2003.
Having denied for years she had ever used steroids, a Jones admitted she had started taking THG in 1999 and continued into 2001.
As a result she stripped of her five medals, three gold, from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
I hated watching every moment of Marion Jones being ran over the hot coals. For years she was the face of Track and Field , because of her dominance. She put fear in the eyes of most men in the track world, from a pure science stand point she is a freak of nature. Her physique is second to none, and to be honest I’m jealous of such a build. But I will reiterate a very good point, I have done steroids and yet I still haven’t ran a sub 11 second 100 meters nor has the Olympic Committee called me to invite me to the next trials. I know obviously it can make her somewhat faster, but i feel it was her who worked tenaciously for 4 years to get noticed for 2 weeks. I realize there were other track events she partook in, but none that were as important as the Olympics. I really hope she stands tall when she tells her story because to most she is still an icon in the sport of Track. I also want to say that stripping her medals is an outright disrespect of an athlete of her caliber. There are many medals that were won in the past with the aid of steroids and yet they won’t go back 20-30 years and punish all culprits. In this modern day the idea of catching one high profile runner, is thought to be that steroids are under control in the sport. It’s not, nor will it ever be removed completely from the sport. So I say to Marion Jones, walk tall, hold your head up and do us all proud on Oprah, because the ones that really count still love you.
