Jones takes back tears, not medals from Athens

ATHENS: Between Sydney and Athens, four years have gone by. Also dissipated is the reputation of American star athlete Marion Jones.
She went to Australia with drive for five, an attempt to win five gold, both sprints and the relays, and the long jump. She finished with three and two bronze. To Athens she came with nothing but muck on her CV following doping allegations.And she goes home with zilch.
One of the everlasting memories of the Athens Olympics would be MJ groping for the hand of Lauryn Williams to pass the baton in the third leg.
"Wait up! Wait up!" Jones screamed as she desperately lunged forward.
She tried once, a second time and then a third time. By then, Williams had run past the passing zone and MJ almost lost her balance. The USA 400 relay team did not finish the race.
With the Americans out, Jamaica took the gold in 41.73 seconds, Russia was second in 42.27 and France won the bronze in 42.54.
An hour and half before the relay, Jones, who has a best of 7.11, was in another corner of the stadium, attempting a long jump gold. Her best effort was a 6.85 which saw her finish fifth.
Even thought she won five medals, Sydney had ended in the same disappointing way like Athens. Jones, who was third going into the sixth jump, fouled four-in-a-row, including her last try, to end with the bronze. The next day, a bungled changeover between Torri Edwards and Nancy Perry left Jones four metres behind Bahamas and behind Jamaica on the final leg of the 4x100m relay. She made up most of the ground but not enough. It was another bronze.
"When I woke up on Friday morning, this is not the way I figured the day would end. It is exceeding my wildest dreams in a negative sense," she said.
MJ was eyeing two medals from Athens. "It would mean more to win golds in Athens than Sydney because of so much that has happened in my life since Sydney and the many obstacles that I have had to overcome," she had said before coming to Greece.
One of the things she was referring to was the doping allegations by ex-husband CJ Hunter who she left after Sydney. She is now with another dope-tainted athlete Tim Montgomery with whom she has a son, Tim. The two briefly worked with Canadian coach Charlie Francis of Ben Johonson fame. MJ and Montgomery were asked to testify before a federal grand jury that was investigating the production of a designer drug, THG. MJ did not even qualify the US Olympic trials for 100m.
Have we seen the last of MJ? "No she insists, she said. "There is no way that is my last race. I go home now and I regroup for next year. I have never been one to make excuses and I won''t start now."
At Beijing, if she qualifies, she will be 33. "Before my career is over, I will attempt to run faster than any woman and jump further than any woman has ever jumped," she was quoted as saying couple of years ago.
That''s a long way to go MJ.