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'I don't know what happened'
By Mitch Gelman, CNNSI.com SYDNEY, Australia -- A month ago, they symbolized U.S. track and field's Power and Speed. Now, they are being portrayed as Beauty and the Beast. Those who know her say that Marion Jones will not buckle under the stress surrounding the revelation that her husband, shot-putter C.J. Hunter tested positive for steroids in July. Hunter withdrew from the Games earlier this month after arthroscopic knee surgery, but news of that positive drug test (and three others) is casting doubt on whether the surgery, alone, caused him to give up his Olympic dream. Jones' quest for five gold medals, however, remains alive. The 24-year-old Olympic 100-meter champion is seeking to add victories in the 200, long jump and the 4 x 100 and 4 x400 relays. "Marion is a tough competitor and any pressure that comes out of this will just make her stronger on the track," said assistant U.S. track coach Curtis Frye, who coached Jones at the University of North Carolina. "The more difficult it gets, the higher she will rise." Hunter said it was early Monday morning that he first learned that he had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at a meet in Oslo, Norway. After hearing it on local TV and reading the report in a Sydney newspaper, he said he talked to Jones. "I don't know what happened, and I'm sorry," Hunter said he told Jones in the apartment they are sharing in Sydney. On Wednesday, Jones, wearing a light grey sweater, black skirt and gold chain, held Hunter's hand as the pair entered a press conference at a downtown Sydney hotel. They started dating in 1995 when he was an assistant track and field coach at the UNC and she was a star on the track and basketball teams. The couple met in the weight room, and now their relationship was being tested by news that Hunter had pushed too far to try to build his strength and endurance. "This has been very difficult the past couple of days for C.J. and I," said Jones. "I am here to show my complete support for my husband. I have total and complete respect that the legal system will clear his name." An emotional Hunter dabbed tears from his cheeks with a tissue and said that he did not know the cause of his positive tests -- the one in Oslo and three others that he said he learned of in the car on the way to the press conference. "All I wanted is for Marion to achieve what she wanted to achieve, the five gold medals," he said. "I've been through too much sh- to do anything to jeopardize her chances." Hunter blamed the positive tests on contaminated iron or calcium dietary supplements he was using. He said that Jones was not using the same supplements. For Hunter, the past 10 years of training have been frustrating, even though he achieved a world championship and had a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Hunter said that he only made incremental progress in the distance of his tosses, adding six-and-a-half-feet in a decade. During the press conference, Hunter, who finished seventh in the 1996 Olympics shot put, said that he has no plans to throw in competition again. He said working out was not fun anymore and that he is tired.
The only reason he had continued to throw, he said, was so he could "travel around the world with my wife for free."
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