There has been an undercurrent of suspicion surrounding Marion Jones during her entire eight-year career. Bob Rosato/SI

Before anyone could realistically digest the goings-on, both USATF CEO Craig Masback and United States Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth piled on Gatlin like playground bullies with an agenda.

Masback: ''Justin Gatlin's doping case has been a setback for our sport. While we are glad Justin has taken responsibility for his positive test and will cooperate in USADA's anti-doping efforts, we are sorely disappointed in him.''

Ueberroth: ''Like Kelli White before him, Justin Gatlin is doing the right thing by stepping forward and acknowledging that he committed a doping offense.''

Whoa. Team Gatlin insists that Gatlin hasn't admitted to anything. In fact, they await an arbitration hearing at which they are expected to ask for a significant reduction (at least four years and maybe more) in Gatlin's penalty.

How he can do this and whether it's possible is another matter. If you think support for Gatlin -- or any shamed track athlete or cyclist -- is minimal in the United States, you would blanch at the response internationally, where the U.S. has long been considered a haven for drug cheats (not least of all their disdain for Lance Armstrong).

Consider the following from former British middle distance runner turned commentator Steve Cram on BBC.com: ''I cannot see Gatlin being offered a sentence which allows him to come back and compete again, because that would send out completely the wrong message.''

Or 1984 decathlon gold medalist Daley Thompson, also speaking to the BBC: "I wish all his marks were expunged and it was as if he had never competed. Any reference to him being Olympic champion should go, he should lose his medals and be banned for life. This bloke has been running around the world saying what a wonderful bloke he is and he's been doing exactly the opposite. I don't think he should be allowed to set foot on a track again."

Strong stuff, but not surprising if you are familiar with the attitude.

Gatlin's legal team has done two significant things:

1. They have issued one statement with Gatlin's denial and since silenced him. (I talked to Gatlin on the day his positive came out and he said, ''I know we've talked a lot in the past and I want to talk to you, but I can't.'' Which was understandable.) They want to avoid a Floyd Landis-like torrent of daily excuses and rationalizations that ultimately wind up on Letterman.

2. They have refused to align themselves with -- or even acknowledge -- Graham's assertion that Gatlin was sabotaged by a masseur with a grudge.

It seems they must go to arbitration with one of two things: ironclad proof that somebody (either the masseur or Graham or somebody else) gave Gatlin drugs surreptitiously. Will this defense, if proven, surmount the IAAF's credo of responsibility for whatever is in your body? It usually does not.

Or: Gatlin will throw Graham under the bus. I'm betting against this. What can Gatlin say? ''This guy was giving me drugs for years and I didn't know it''? Then they take away his medals and cut his suspension in half. There are plenty of smart people who think that losing Graham would be the best thing for track and field since Prefontaine arrived on scene. (The runner, not the movie.) But is that Gatlin's play? I don't think so.

To get Gatlin back on the track in less than four years, his legal team will have to be very good. To save his reputation they will have to be something far greater.

Jones is another issue. Let's dispense with the qualifiers: Jones has long denied using performance-enhancing drugs. This is only an "A" sample, and Jones has not formally committed a doping offense until her "B" sample comes up dirty. ("B" samples usually do, although in a small percentage of cases they have not confirmed the "A".)

What I found remarkable about the Jones affair was the you-mean-there's-no-Santa-Claus? reaction of many in the media. I'm not going to quote and disparage journalists I respect, but suffice it to say that several writers expressed amazement that Jones' A sample had tested positive, because the regal Mrs. Jones was the embodiment of feminine grace and beauty and an athlete we could all believe in.

OK, I understand some of this. But let's look at some of the facts here: Victor Conte says Jones ingested or injected basically the entire drug counter. C.J. Hunter says likewise. (Are these reliable sources? They're not people I'd want at my Thanksgiving dinner, but if I wanted information on doping, they would be near the top of my list. You're not going to get drug skinny from the Church Lady.)

There's more. It's a sad but very true fact in track and field that the first barometer of suspicion is running too fast, jumping too high, throwing too far, etc. Fair or not -- OK, not -- there has been an undercurrent of suspicion around Jones in the track world since 1997, when she burst back onto the scene running sub-10.85 virtually straight off the college basketball court. Hence, word of Jones' positive A sample was more equivalent to another shoe dropping than to some crushing of ideals.

You could go further. There was so much taint around Jones -- so much smoke suggesting a whole lot of fire -- that her mere presence on the U.S. track scene was damaging to the sport. Maybe her "B" sample will come up clean. If it doesn't, maybe she'll have an adequate explanation for how she tested positive for EPO. (You should read the message boards on this one.) But if she didn't have an adequate explanation, and if she were gone for two years or more, it's entirely possible that the sport would be better off without her.

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