So what do we make of track superstar Marion Jones now that the brief indoor phase of her comeback from maternity leave ended with a long-jump win and a 60-meters defeat Friday in Birmingham, England?
As a sprinter, Jones is about where she was at the start of her other comeback in 1997. As a jumper, she is ahead.
Seven years ago, she was returning to track and field full time after two seasons of injuries and greater concentration on her varsity basketball career at North Carolina. Her first 100 meters of 1997 produced a wind-aided 11.19 seconds, considerably slower than her personal best at that time. Two months later, Jones won the U.S. title in a personal-best 10.97. She went on to become world champion and run 10.76 that season.
Her two 60-meter races this year, 7.21 seconds at the Millrose Games in New York and 7.16 in Birmingham, were well off her personal best of 6.95.
But Jones won her first indoor long jump competition ever with a leap of 22 feet 1 3/4 inch. That’s 9 1/2 inches longer than the wind-aided best she produced in her first long jump meet of 1997. The big difference is the attention she is getting.
“In ’97, I stepped on the scene, and nobody really was expecting anything except those few that knew a little bit about my background,” she said before the Millrose Games. “I just surprised everybody. I don’t think I’m going to surprise too many people this year, even after giving birth.”
Jones had announced she would jump again Sunday in Athens, but she withdrew after event organizers would not meet what the Greek track federation called “excessive” financial demands. Her next competition of this Olympic year is likely to be the Mt. Sac Relays in April.
While top track athletes always ask for substantial appearance fees, Jones’ pullout from Athens reinforced an impression of her as a mercenary. In the Millrose postrace news conference, a reporter from Caribbean Sports asked Jones if she might race in the islands this year.
“We have sunshine,” he said.
“If you have this,” Jones replied, rubbing thumb and fingers together to indicate money, “maybe we can get there.”
Hot shot: Reigning national outdoor champion Kevin Toth, the shot putter among four U.S. athletes who tested positive for the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) in 2003, announced his retirement last week. Toth said he intended to continue his appeal of the test result in an attempt to clear his name. Toth had the world’s leading throw in 2003.
It didn’t take long for another U.S. thrower to establish himself as a potential 2004 Olympic champion. In an all-comers meet Saturday in Columbia, Mo., Christian Cantwell threw 72 feet 1/4 inch, the world’s longest indoors since 2000. Only Toth, at 74-4 1/2, threw farther outdoors last season. Cantwell, 23, who had a previous personal best of 70-11 1/4, will be heavily favored to win a second straight U.S. indoor title Saturday in Boston.
Soccer power: The U.S. women should have little trouble winning an Olympic soccer qualifying spot in a tournament that begins Wednesday in Costa Rica, but …
Team USA has a 49-3-3 record against the other seven teams in the tournament, having beaten everyone but Canada. As in the case of the U.S. men, who were shut out of the Olympics by their semifinal loss to Mexico in the regional qualifying tournament this month, the U.S. women must win their semifinal to go to Athens. Their opponent in the March 3 match likely will be Canada or Costa Rica.
Canada could be a tough opponent for the U.S. women, who will be playing for the first time in a Spanish-speaking country. The U.S. is 27-3-3 against Canada all time, but 4-2-3 in the last nine matches.
Home-field advantage probably won’t help Costa Rica, which lost to the U.S. 5-0 last year, 7-0 in 2002 and 8-0 in 2000.
Globetrotting: U.S. speedskater Chad Hedrick quickly showed that the world all-around title he won two weeks ago was no fluke. Hedrick won the 5,000 meters and finished second in the 1,500 at last weekend’s World Cup event in Inzell, Germany. Also in Inzell, Jennifer Rodriguez continued her streak of making the podium in every 1,000- and 1,500-meter race this season by taking second in the 1,000 and third in the 1,500. Chris Witty’s win in the 1,000 was her first since the 2002 Olympics. After deciding in January to concentrate on speedskating rather than try for another Summer Olympics in track cycling, Witty has a first- and a second-place finish. … Sweden’s Anja Paerson, 22, who is from the same town as countryman Ingemar Stenmark, is on her way to becoming an alpine skiing star of Stenmark’s stature. Paerson won her 10th World Cup race of the season Sunday, putting her within reach of the single-season record of 14 set by Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider in 1989.
