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Loss will show what Jones is made of
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The truth is, we could never really measure Marion Jones' greatness until she was beaten. Not beaten by injury, as she was in the 200 meters at the 1999 world championships in Seville. Not tested by adversity, as she was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when her then-husband, C.J. Hunter was suspended for a positive drug test. Tested by defeat. Since Mrs. Jones returned to track and field, full-time, in the spring of 1997, she has thoroughly dominated sprinting (her long-jump work is another matter). Consider: Coming into this week's world championships, she hadn't lost a 100-meter final since September 1996 ("I remember it like it was yesterday," she said before the worlds began) and never had dropped a 200-meter final. These are short races, where any mistake can be costly, and she owned them. It has been unreal. It has also been a little bit boring. Because Jones won so often and with such authority, there was a tendency by media and fans (me, too) to take Jones for granted. Because she was unbeatable, we often assumed that the competition was weak. On Monday night at Commonwealth Stadium (in front of yet another half-full house, which is terribly disappointing), everything changed. The first shock came in the semifinals of the 100, when Jones was run off her feet by Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, the Tennessee-based Ukrainian who crossed the line with one finger in the air in celebration. Semis can be deceptive; sometimes the best sprinters sandbag each other, looking ahead to the final. But Jones didn't look like she was playing games; she looked like she was running as fast as she could and it wasn't enough. The final was a rerun. Pintusevich-Block got off the line quicker than Jones, and the latter, while gaining, never found the top-end gear that has made her so devastating. Her form, honed so nicely by coach Trevor Graham over the last five years, was sloppy. She flailed and grimaced, like a kid racing in the street. To an inattentive public, Jones' loss is a shock. To track nuts who have been paying attention, it is a surprise but nothing more. (On paper, of course, it stands as one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history.) Jones has struggled throughout the season. She didn't break 11 seconds in a 100 until late June, and then only clocking a 10.96 in Rome. She promised that she was simply delaying her peak, when in fact she just wasn't fast. Pintusevich-Block's winning time of 10.82 is faster than Jones has run all season. Right now, the Ukrainian is the best short sprinter in the world. Jones can become something much bigger. She was gracious in losing, hiding her competitive anger. She made no excuses, blaming neither the long 2000 campaign and nor her ongoing divorce from Hunter. If she wins the 200 on Friday and/or anchors the U.S. 4x100 relay to a gold, she begins to resurrect herself. Americans love a recovery. And they should. It is up to Jones now. She can either again seize her sport by the throat, like she did from 1997-2000, or she can slowly slip away to a broadcasting career. Know this: If she returns to Sydney form, she will be bigger than before. Because now we know it isn't easy.
Favor Hamilton reaches a crossroadsIt definitely isn't easy for U.S. middle-distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton, who turns 33 years old Wednesday and has clearly reached a crisis point in her long and successful career. She went to Sydney last fall with designs on an Olympic medal and then collapsed in the straightaway of the 1,500-meter final, a fall that she later admitted was caused by her inability to handle the stress of the situation and not by any physical problem. Things were even worse in Edmonton, where Favor Hamilton, who has been running reasonably well through the summer, collapsed with a lap left in the semifinal. A day later, she met with her Netherlands-based agent, Jos Hermans, and asked him, "Why is this happening to me?" She bemoaned the fact that she can run competitively with the best runners in the world in rabbited, Golden League time trials, but then goes to pieces in Olympics and world championships competition. Hermans has a theory that makes sense. "She is scared," he said. "She has a problem with big competitions. If something didn't happen in the semifinal, it would have happened in the final, believe me." Hermans said that he has tried joking with Favor Hamilton on the warmup track to keep her loose. He has told her to run near the front of early-round races, but instead Favor Hamilton drops back and weaves around in the pack, wasting precious energy. "We've tried everything," Hermans said. Now it might be time to let somebody else run for the U.S. in championship meets.
Jacobs is doneThat somebody, however, should not be 37-year-old Regina Jacobs, the U.S.'s other middle-distance hope in Sydney and Edmonton. Jacobs withdrew from the Olympics. Saturday afternoon here, she dropped out of her heat of the 1,500, claiming a heel injury. Then she withdrew from the 800 meters altogether. Enough is enough.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden covers track and field for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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