They Can’T Keep Up With Jones U.S. Sprinter Wins Women’S 200 By Amazing .43 Seconds

Marion Jones insisted winning the 200 meters Thursday night wasn’t easy. She took great pains to say how hard it was. She credited her opponents for pushing her so hard. She even kneeled on the track when it was over in a show of exhaustion.

But it was a matter of believing her or your lying eyes. Jones obliterated the field in the 200, winning her second Olympic gold medal so convincingly she was slowing down at the end of the race.

Her time was 21.84 seconds and her victory margin of .43 seconds was the largest in this event since 1960 when Wilma Rudolph destroyed the field by .45. Silver medalist Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas ran the best time of her life - and lost by four meters.

“I’m not in a class by myself,” Jones said. “I’m not going to win just by showing up. They pushed me. Pauline ran excellent rounds. They made me dig deep for this.”

Jones has handled every situation here so deftly that she was almost believable. But the results say otherwise. The rest of the runners finished in typical 200 meters fashion. Onehundredth of a second separated second and third. Only .39 separated second from eighth.

Part of this can be explained by the absence of Jones’ top American rival, Inger Miller, who is injured.

Part of this can’t be explained. Some have offered the theory of a slow track or unpredictable winds. But it’s not slow or windy for Jones.

The men’s 200, won by come-from-nowhere story Konstantinos Kenteris of Greece, was the slowest field since 1980.

Jones hasn’t been slowed a bit. And she remains undistracted by the controversy enveloping her husband, C.J. Hunter, who had his athlete’s credential pulled after his positive drug test hit the news. He watched from a seat in the stands.

“This has been a dream of mine for a very long time,” Jones said. “To let one event in my life - no matter how traumatic - ruin that, it wouldn’t be right at all.”

So the march continues toward five golds, the next step of which comes today in the long jump. It’s Jones’ toughest event - although the relays could pose problems too, not because of her but her teammates.

Miller and Gail Devers, both original members of the relay team, will not be able to run because of hamstring injuries - depriving the United States of two of its top sprinters.

The long jump is her most unpredictable event. She can do almost everything from jumping 24 feet to struggling to reach 22 feet. Unlike her dominance in the sprints, consistency in the long jump has eluded her.

“I am confident,” Jones said. “It was important that I qualified with one jump. My coach told me the plan was to take it easy in the rounds, which I did, and qualify in one jump. And I was able to do that, so I’m very confident.”

It’s hard to find anyone confident enough to say she won’t do it.

“I think things are really opening up for her,” said Ato Boldon, who finished third in the men’s 200. “My only concern for her is the relays.”

But that’s a worry for another day. First, Jones wanted to savor her gold medal. After her initial display of exhaustion, she ran a victory lap, again carrying a U.S. flag and a Belize flag. She soaked up the applause with a giant smile and looked positively radiant during her medal ceremony.

“I enjoyed the 100 and I enjoyed this, even though I’ll hopefully get three more in the next couple of days,” she said. “I’m here to prove something else. I’m here to prove it’s possible to walk away with five. So in a way, I’m checking them off a list. But I’m still enjoying them.

“I could see it if this was my fifth Olympics, but it’s my first. It still means a lot.”

This time, she was easy to believe.