IAAF hopes Jones can help them help others avoid same mistakes:
"There is a lot of sadness for Marion and her family," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said after Jones was sentenced for lying about her steroid use and her knowledge of a separate check fraud case.
"Six months in prison is a lot," Davies told Reuters by telephone from IAAF headquarters in Monte Carlo. "But you do hope that it will be a deterrent to others.
"Hopefully when she is out of prison she can help the IAAF and other organisations to ensure that other people don't follow the path that she certainly followed.
"It (her doping) has certainly hurt the image of the sport."
Nobody ever taught poor Marion Jones that there can be only one excuse to pact with the devil: gain time before striking back,
Reminder - the only one worldwide to have explained her "confession"
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.cons ... 3f172aa42d
malmo wrote:I'm of the opinion that Marion must have had (or should have had) a "what have I done?" moment. She had the whole world in her hands, yet she surrounded herself with scumbags, hustlers, losers, and enablers etc... and threw it all away - all for nothing! I don't know what Obadele Thompson is like, and don't want to hear about if he's from the same mold as the others. Her collapse was painful to watch. Hopefully when it's all over she recovers to a normal and sane lifestyle in anonymity. It's not such a bad thing to get a job and pay the bills just like everyone else.
Masback wrote:The revelation that one of the sport's biggest stars took performance-enhancing drugs and repeatedly lied about it, in addition to being a party to fraud, has no silver lining.
I beg to differ: the SL is that one of the sport's biggest stars took performance-enhancing drugs and repeatedly lied about it, in addition to being a party to fraud, and she went down and is now humiliated and bankrupt. Care to give PEDs a shot? If only 1% of the possible future cheats is dissuaded, there's the SL (in one huge dark threatening thundercloud).
Dope Talk (locked) This Forum was created to divert traffic from Current Events at the height of the BALCO scandal. It comes and goes as "needed"; Marion's 15 minutes of fame has passed
Held like a dirty mangy dog up to public obloquy, even if she lied, robbed
or cheated, can't this mother get any compassion from any of us?
The long and fabulous history of athletics is not a fairy-tale paved with
morality.
If you can accept this will never change, then you can pretend to be a
track and field lover.
malmo wrote:...I don't know what Obadele Thompson is like, and don't want to hear about if he's from the same mold as the others. ...
I've never met him that I can recall, but by all accounts a warm & friendly sort (that takes him out of CJ mold right away!). Major Christian sort.
When he emerged in '96, we wrote, "A business student with a fine 3.8 GPA, Thompson comes by his academic excellence honestly. His dad is a college professor and hsi mom a registered nurse. And he's definitely no overaged foreigner being a 19-year-old junior."
All of which might mean nothing, of course, as the nice people of the world aren't immune from producing sleaze. But by all accounts he has always been one of the good guys.
79. wrote:can't this mother get any compassion from any of us?
As a mother, she does have my sympathy and compassion. As a 'role model' (which she carried herself as) for T&F, the PEDs admission comprises 30% of my disdain. The history of lying is what really makes me . . . cold.
malmo wrote:...I don't know what Obadele Thompson is like, and don't want to hear about if he's from the same mold as the others. ...
I've never met him that I can recall, but by all accounts a warm & friendly sort (that takes him out of CJ mold right away!). Major Christian sort.
When he emerged in '96, we wrote, "A business student with a fine 3.8 GPA, Thompson comes by his academic excellence honestly. His dad is a college professor and hsi mom a registered nurse. And he's definitely no overaged foreigner being a 19-year-old junior."
All of which might mean nothing, of course, as the nice people of the world aren't immune from producing sleaze. But by all accounts he has always been one of the good guys.
That's encouraging to hear.
Now for the bad (or good depending on POV) news. 6 months in a the Federal Pen minimum security is just one notch below a paid vacation. If you don't believe me then ask Carlos Arias, a Eugene runner via Chicago, will back me up on it.
Last edited by malmo on Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
79. wrote:Held like a dirty mangy dog up to public obloquy, even if she lied, robbed or cheated, can't this mother get any compassion from any of us?
I think the problem is that she lied to us, she robbed us and cheated us of the pleasure that we derived from her success. She hurt us. We invested our emotions and our support, and she has now stolen the rewards of that investment. We're not the only victims of what she did, but track fans everywhere feel personally betrayed.
Compassion? Yes, I feel compassion. I cannot forgive her for what she did, but I personally don't feel the need to continue dwelling on it and kicking her when she's down. Yet I understand those who are so angry and feel such a sense of personal loss that they cannot be compassionate and they cannot let it go. Marion is hurting right now, but so is the sport and so are some of our most loyal fans. I feel sorry for them, too. I think there's some of "them" in most of us.
I also typed "steroids" and "high school" into Google and found a San Francisco Chronicle article which cited a nationwide study from 2005 that found 5% of seniors admitted having tried steroids, and 40% said they were easily available.
tandfman wrote:Compassion? Yes, I feel compassion. I cannot forgive her for what she did, but I personally don't feel the need to continue dwelling on it and kicking her when she's down...
Neither does Conte:
"I feel very sad for Marion and her family. Marion did make some very poor choices and she does deserve serious consequences.
"There is no doubt in my mind that she has learned gigantic lessons.
"Hopefully, she will be able to serve as an example to others and help them to make good decisions."
"I certainly don't condone her repeated lies, but I do feel especially bad for Marion's mother and her two children.
"Marion was one of the most celebrated athletes in Olympic history and her mistakes have caused her to be stripped of everything she worked so very hard to achieve."
dakota wrote:I also typed "steroids" and "high school" into Google and found a San Francisco Chronicle article which cited a nationwide study from 2005 that found 5% of seniors admitted having tried steroids, and 40% said they were easily available.
That's probably a reference to a frequently (annually?) conducted CDC study. A frightening aspect of the 5% total is that only half of those kids are athletes. At least as many kids are using non-prescribed steroids for cosmetic purposes.
Conte wrote:"Hopefully, she will be able to serve as an example to others and help them to make good decisions."
Yikes - VC and I agree on the one positive outcome of this catastrophe (which is NOT understating the immediate AND lasting effect of Marion (and to a lesser degree, Justin).
what the hell is wrong with this judge? has he taken into account that the man who sold the drugs to how many athletes only had to go to jail for four months?
I don´t know...to me a Paris Hilton who drove drunk and intoxicated again and again was sentenced with a few days in jail...and Marion goes six months to jail, two years probation plus the community hours? Please...I don´t know if I´m the only one feeling like this...but in my opinion, yes I know perjury is a crime...but nobody´s life or health was in danger like in those many dui cases...and she´s sentenced like that? No.
I´m praying for her and her family to go through this and keep her faith in God. Marion still representin You!!! For Life
trackrebel wrote:what the hell is wrong with this judge? has he taken into account that the man who sold the drugs to how many athletes only had to go to jail for four months?
.... yes I know perjury is a crime...
If it was not for the money laundering I expect she would have got less. I don't think you can compare Conte and Jones' sentences.
"Hopefully, she will be able to serve as an example to others and help them to make good decisions."
Now does anyone really believe this? I think as the money grows in the sport – this is going to grow as an issue. Sure the bureaucrats will want you to think they are getting a handle on the problem. However, I would not be so certain.
Can you image the problems we will encounter if the financial rewards were to gain to the levels of the “Pro” sport (baseball, basketball and football). Baseball is taking such a lenient attitude on the subject and I have not read anywhere if the other major sports have even implemented any testing? Sure make Track & Field an example in an Olympic year – smart going!
I am certain more young kids idolized Barry Bond than have ever heard of Marion Jones.
malmo wrote:I'm of the opinion that Marion must have had (or should have had) a "what have I done?" moment. She had the whole world in her hands, yet she surrounded herself with scumbags, hustlers, losers, and enablers etc... and threw it all away - all for nothing! I don't know what Obadele Thompson is like, and don't want to hear about if he's from the same mold as the others. Her collapse was painful to watch. Hopefully when it's all over she recovers to a normal and sane lifestyle in anonymity. It's not such a bad thing to get a job and pay the bills just like everyone else.
Your best post of the year malmo.
I was about to post the same thing.
Well said malmo.
I also think the sentence is fair-lying under oath is a serious offence as is money laundering. She got off lightly IMHO.
She also doesn't stand for what is right as she said (though I do appreciate her guts in facing the media at all).
She stands for what happens when you cheat and lie and become greedy.
I do hope and trust that she will serve her time and then go on to lead a normal life as a mum and wife. I really, really hope we don't get a movie or another book (by her anyway) about all this.
I couldn't stand to see her profit monetarily from all the deception.
What Marion did was wrong, she is now accepting responsibility for her part.
Of course, only the little people pay taxes, so hopefully they'll learn something from her she-nanigans. Tyrants and other special cases need not consider the application of ethics, as Machiavelli so shrewdly perceived.
"Six months in prison is a lot," Davies told Reuters by telephone from IAAF headquarters in Monte Carlo. "But you do hope that it will be a deterrent to others.
You just have to love people with vain hopes and little clue. Let's not forget that she is not going to jail for doping, she is going to jail for perjury. The doping is purely incidental and the same outcome could have been achieved with any manner of activities she had to lie about.
All this will do is to make dopers more careful about construcing plausible deniability or other get outs well ahead of time instead of after the fact. It won't be a deterrent just a very good training exercise.
dakota wrote:I also typed "steroids" and "high school" into Google and found a San Francisco Chronicle article which cited a nationwide study from 2005 that found 5% of seniors admitted having tried steroids, and 40% said they were easily available.
I don't think that going after a few high profile athletes after the fact is going to change to culture of steroids in athletics that is tacitly condoned (especially in baseball). It really seems like a side show to me and I'm not seeing a full committment to eliminate PED's going forward. Their are lots of sports successes out there who aren't getting "caught" and these surveys also show that there is a willingness to risk serious future health problems for "the gold" why not risk getting caught with that type of thought process.
schigh wrote:. . . culture of steroids in athletics that is tacitly condoned (especially in baseball).
Open your eyes, people. Football, pro and college, much more winky winky on PEDs than baseball . . .
OK. Agree. Long history of being condoned in many sports, football, track, cycling, etc. I was just sidetracked by the pretend investigation by baseball recently.
