Jones’ botched day
ATHENS — The tears flowed easily, like streams down her shiny face. Marion Jones had lost, and lost badly, and the enormity of it all, of the past months under the unpleasant specter of a drug investigation, came crashing on top of her.
It was a simple enough question that sparked the breakdown Friday night: “Can you sum up your Olympic experience?”
“It was a rough one,” Jones said, before pausing, and turning her face away from the throng of reporters. There was no stopping the tears, no saving face. Not now.
Because of a botched handoff between Jones and Lauryn Williams, the favored U.S. women’s 4x100-meter relay team failed to finish the race, and could only watch as Jamaica’s team took the gold in 41.73 seconds, followed by Russia and France. Earlier in the night, Jones finished fifth in the long jump, her only individual event of these Games.
So it ended for the darling from four years ago. In Sydney, Jones was atop the sports world, winning three gold medals and two bronze, more hardware than any other female track athlete in a single Games.
In the four years since, Jones has divorced, had a baby, and been accused by her ex-husband of taking steroids during her storied time in Sydney. At the U.S. Olympic trials last month, Jones failed to qualify in the 100 meters, and pulled out of the 200 after one heat.
She was added, somewhat controversially, to the 4x100 relay team despite the drug investigation, and despite the fact that young Allyson Felix, the 200-meter silver medalist, probably would have been a better choice.
So when the question came, simple as it was, Jones broke down. With tears running down her face, she clinched Williams’ hand, and looked to teammate LaTasha Colander for comfort.
“Ya’ll have been on her from beginning to end,” said Colander, who later was in tears herself. “The USA team is going to stick with her. We did a great job out there. The Olympics, it’s not always the win. It’s the struggle, the journey to get there. This journey has been very tough on her.”
As she had in the preliminary round, Jones fouled on her first attempt at the long jump. She was antsy, ready to compete, ready to grab some of the spotlight that had been on her younger teammates, like Felix, like Williams.
On her second attempt, Jones jumped 6.85 meters (22 feet, 5 3/4 inches), and when the judge raised the white flag, signaling Jones’ takeoff was clean, the crowd erupted. At that point, Jones was in fourth, but she didn’t last there long.
After the first three qualifying rounds — only nine of the 12 long jumpers advanced — Jones was in fifth place, and there she stayed. She jumped 6.73 on her fourth attempt, and fouled on her fifth. Her sixth and final jump was measured at 6.63, well shy of the 7.05 she needed to move into medal contention.
Jones raised her hand, waved, and blew kisses to the crowd.
She knew that event was over.
The relay disaster was more of a shock. Angela Williams ran a fine opening leg, creating a little space for Jones to operate. But as Jones neared the end of her 100 meters, she admittedly was winded. Lauryn Williams started running in the 20-meter exchange area, and Jones tried to hand the baton off, but couldn’t catch up to her teammate.
In a classy move by the 20-year-old, Williams shouldered the blame for the mishap, saying, “I did leave too early.”
But Angela Williams cut her off. “We’re together. We win as a team. We lose as a team.”
So Jones now can go home, to her son Tim Montgomery Jr., to her refuge in Cary, N.C. But this one, this one will hurt.
“When I woke up this morning, this is not the way I figured the day would end,” Jones said. “I go home now, and I regroup and get ready for next year. … (This) is exceeding my wildest dreams in a negative sense.”
Jones was asked about her baby, Monty, about how having him affected her perspective.
She pressed her lips together, looked around, and started to cry once again.