|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Two down Jones cruises to victory in 200-meter finals
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Two gold medals for Marion Jones. Two kisses for her embattled husband C.J. Hunter. Jones raced to a lopsided win in the women's 200 meters Thursday, her second gold medal of the Sydney Games. Her quest is to become the first woman to win five golds at a Summer Olympics. With Hunter watching from the stands, Jones took an early lead and then pulled away from the field to finish in 21.84 seconds. She won by nearly half a second in a race usually decided by hundredths of seconds. After winning by the biggest margin in 40 years, Jones took a victory lap - stopping at about the 50-meter mark to give her husband two kisses and a hug. "Some of the words I'd use to describe it are relieved and excited," Jones said. "I think I'm just overall happy that my sprints are over." In the women's 200, Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas was second in 22.27 and Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka, who tested positive for the steroid nandolone two years ago, won the bronze medal in 22.28.
Jones' victory margin of 43 hundredths of a second was the biggest since American Wilma Rudolph won by a similar margin at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Cathy Freeman, winner of the 400-meter gold medal earlier this week, was seventh in the final. The easy races are over for Jones. Her next competition will be the long jump, her weakest individual event. Then it's on to the relays, in which the American teams are vulnerable. "Now I can really focus on the big challenge ahead, and that's my jumping tomorrow," she said. "I don't think anybody doubted me in the sprints. But my real test will come tomorrow. I'm going to have to dig down deep tomorrow. and I'm ready for that." The United States has dominated in the 400-meter relay, winning the last four Olympic golds. But two Americans are injured and the squad could be vulnerable t a team such as Jamaica - which had two finalists in the women's 100. Gail Devers has a torn left hamstring that forced her to drop out of the 100-meter hurdles, and Inger Miller plans to run in the relay despite missing the 100 and 200 with a strained hamstring. In the 1,600-meter relay, the Americans will have to beat an Australian squad anchored by Freeman. Jones' victory capped a difficult few days for Jones, who on
Tuesday stood at Hunter's side shortly before answering questions
about his four positive drug tests this summer. Hunter, the
reigning world champion shot putter, is not competing in Sydney.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
