Montgomery finally clears the air

Sprinter talks about he and Jones leaving embattled coach

Tim Montgomery didn't come close to breaking his world record in the 100 meters last weekend while running at high altitude in Mexico City. But more important, he recently broke his silence about the decision he and girlfriend Marion Jones made weeks earlier to cut their ties with disgraced coach Charlie Francis, the technical and pharmaceutical advisor to steroid-boosted Ben Johnson. This parting of ways was a necessary and long overdue step.

Montgomery and Jones had trained under Trevor Graham, a North Carolina-based coach who drew sharp criticism for his failure to improve Jones' poor long-jump technique. The duo split with Graham last year, and their romance became public soon after. The first couple of sprinting subsequently was spotted working with Francis, an association their camp initially denied. Pressure to drop Francis was intense and consistent. Representatives from the IAAF and Nike implored Montgomery and Jones to eliminate this negative reflection on themselves and the sport. Montgomery last week insisted that they had done so several months ago. So why wait to clear the air?

Now, as Jones takes the year off to have the couple's first child, the world's fastest humans remain in search of a new coach. "We've been in touch with [several] coaches," Montgomery said at the Penn Relays. "It's all about finding the right person. A coach is like a friend. ... We decided to end the relationship. Charlie was very upset that he brought stress on us when we didn't do anything."

Maybe so, but the public declaration should have come sooner. Montgomery and Jones can and should be allowed to protect or reveal their private lives as they wish, but that which relates to running, right or wrong, is not only public domain but open to public accountability, simply because the Tims and Marions of the future are watching and emulating.

U.S. stumbles at hockey worlds

The International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship gets even less coverage in the United States than Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. Why? First, it takes place during the NHL playoffs; second, it takes place during the NBA playoffs; third, nobody seems to need playoffs to ignore it; fourth, the U.S. teams are traditionally horrible. I mean really bad. During the 20 Olympics, including one Summer Games, in which ice hockey has been contested, U.S. teams have accumulated a fair haul of hardware: two gold medals, seven silvers and one bronze. In the last 40 annual world championships, the U.S. has won only a single bronze, in 1986.

For years the excuse was simply that European teams, whose seasons had ended in time for the worlds, were better able to pick from their talent pools. But these days Europe's best are playing in North America anyway. Everybody is a little short-handed. In particular, the U.S. is short-handed simply because its best players often elect not to participate, because the tournament simply isn't worth their while.

This year's group included only a handful of good players from teams that didn't make the NHL playoffs; Florida's Matt Cullen was probably the most established among them. Goaltender Damian Rhodes, a nine-year NHL veteran who had been playing with the Greenville Grrrowl of the ECHL, was also on the squad. Chris Chelios headed to Finland after his Red Wings surprisingly were excused from the postseason by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, but by then Team USA already had been bounced to the relegation round of this year's championship.

The U.S. squad finished in 13th place, never recovering from an opening 5-2 loss to Denmark. Denmark? Can you name all the Danish-born players in NHL history? Don't sweat it. The league has seen players born in South Africa, Northern Ireland, Brazil and Taiwan, but never one from Denmark. The last time the Danes even qualified for the world championship was in 1949, when they were edged by Canada 47-0.

Think of the team the U.S. could have put together from NHL squads that failed to make the playoffs: Brian Leetch, Tom Poti, Mike Dunham, Chris Drury, Shawn McEachern, Bret Hedican, Brian Holzinger, Sean Hill, Eric Cole, Adam Deadmarsh, Tyler Arnason, Aaron Miller, Craig Conroy and Scott Lachance. Many of these players have represented the U.S. in other tournaments during their careers. And if USA Hockey can't convince more of them to do so in the future, its team will remain susceptible to bad headlines about Great Danes.

Sports Illustrated staff writer Brian Cazeneuve covers Olympic sports for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.

 

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