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Jones's 'Drive for Five' hits the buffers in Olympic long jump
= = SYDNEY, Sept 29 (AFP) - Marion Jones's "Drive for Five" - an ambitious bid to win five Olympic gold medals at a single Games - hit the buffers here on Friday, as she could manage only a bronze medal in the long jump final. Gold went to the 1992 champion, Heike Drechsler, of Germany, who jumped 6.99 metres. The silver medallist was Italy's Fiona May, the runner-up at the Atlanta Games four years ago, who like Jones had a best effort of 6.92m. May beat Jones because her second-best jump, 6.82m, was the better. "I only need one jump," Jones had said before the Games. "I have the speed. I know I can jump a long way." In the end, though, even six jumps were not enough for the American. The undisputed queen of the track proved that she has some way to go before becoming the superwoman in the field, too. "The drive for five is not alive," she said. "I didn't regret it at all, I had a shot at it and it didn't pan out. Inside I'm disappointed but she deserved the gold." "Maybe I'll do it a little quieter next time," she added. "I know people will say 'I told you so' but I can look in the mirror and say I gave my best. "I competed against one of the all-time greats. I can tell my grandchildren about it 30 years from now." "I jumped 24 feet in 1998," she said of her 7.31 metres best. "I'm sure I'll get back to it." The critics of Jones' poor jumping technique have been unconvinced. Here, the 24-year-old former college basketball star had a shaky start, no-jumping her first attempt. For her second attempt, Jones then used all the speed that had carried her to two sprint gold medals earlier in the week, hit the take-off board hard and landed in the sand so awkwardly that she jarred forward. She had, though, managed a successful jump, 6.68 metres, 8cm short of May's leading mark from the first round. Russia's Olga Rubleva briefly overtook both the Italian and the American later in that round with 6.79m. But none of the jumpers had really found their rhythm, nor the bigger distances anticipated. Then up stepped Drechsler. At 35, the German was the oldest woman in the competition, competing in her third Olympics. And the champion from Barcelona eight years ago showed some of her old style as she flew to 6.99m to take a third-round lead. With May and Jones both jumping 6.92 in the same round, Jones was now in bronze medal position on countback to her second-best jump compared to the May, the Olympic silver medallist in Atlanta four years ago. Jones was in desperate need of another good jump, but both her next two efforts were ragged and red-flagged, as she struggled to find the right number of strides to the take-off board. "I definitely laid it all on the line in the last jump," Jones said. "It's what every athlete dreams of - to be behind going into the final round and to get it back. "I was going faster, faster on the runway, I gave it all. When I landed, I could see it was over seven metres, but when I looked back... there was the gentleman raising his flag. It dashed all my hopes. "I'm disappointed. I feel I let myself down tonight. I know I'll be able to look back on my Sydney experience and smile. But fun is winning." Jones still has a chance of two more medals at the Sydney Games - in Saturday's finals of the 4x100 and 4x400m relays, in which the United States managed to qualify without her help on Friday night.
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