The one honour missing

MARION JONES's sprint accolades stretch on and on. Yet there is one honour missing. Nowhere in her long resume of achievements is a world 200 metres title. Back spasms ended a quest for that crown two years ago in the heat of Seville. Now, she will try again in the cooler climes of Edmonton.

Already the Olympic champion at 100 and 200 metres and in the 4x400 relay and the owner of World titles at 100 metres (twice) and in the 4x100 relay, Jones is putting a major emphasis on winning her first 200 metres title, and third 100 metres crown, in the World championships.

``It is important for me to retain my 100 metre title but more important is walking away with that 200 metre title,'' said the 25-year-old American.

``Being Olympic champion in the 200 metres is very important to me. But in terms of the world championships, the competition is probably a little more competitive than the actual games. It would be very satisfying if I could walk away with the gold in that.''

Her post-Olympic season has been eventful. She has separated from her husband, suspended world shot put champion C.J. Hunter. Magazine- cover photo shoots and endorsement opportunities have made her even more recognisable.

She has spent time in front of the camera, commenting for television on both athletics and women's professional basketball, a sport in which she excelled at the university of north Carolina.

Europe has been her early summer base after a spring of running in the United States. In Rome, Paris, Lausanne, Nice, Oslo and London she has sped to 100 metres victories, not needing to worry about her long jump, her weakest event, which has been abandoned for the year.

``She is having fun,'' said her coach, Trevor Graham.

Jones is full of enthusiasm as she approaches Edmonton and her third world championships.

``I try to categorise all of them,'' she said. ``My first world championship in 1997 was my coming-out party. That was a celebration of what I had done at that point and perhaps a glimpse of what I would do in the future.

``In '99, I think I was a bit more established and it was a big preparation prior to the (Olympic) games... To see what I could do I walked away from that disappointed,'' the California native said of her unsuccessful quest for four gold medals.

She clinched a second 100 metres title as expected but finished only third in the long jump.

Then, in the 200 metres semifinals, she suffered back spasms which prematurely ended her season.

``Now, this one, knock on wood, I'm going in healthy and I am going in as the favourite,'' said Jones.

Jones has not lost a 100 metres final since 1997 and her 200 metres success in finals stretches back to 1995.

Her winning streak for 100 metres finals numbers 42 and at 200 metres she has not lost a final in 26 races.Her coach calls her ``the greatest'' but Jones begs to differ. ``I have only touched the surface in being one of the greatest ever,'' she said.

``Yeah, I've won some world championships golds. Yeah, I have won some Olympic golds. But look at some of the other athletes... Look at Michael Johnson, for example. He has so many golds in the Olympics and World championships that it is difficult to count.

``I want to get to that point, where people start wondering how many has it been?''

But although she is the world's most dominant female sprinter, Jones's status for the American 4x100 metres relay in Edmonton remains in limbo.

U.S. coaches, noting that Jones did not attend their relay camp, say they will wait until after the championships begin to determine whether Jones competes in the team.

Said Jones: ``I would like to be on the relay but it is out of my hands. ``If they want me to run, I will be more than available. If they don't, I will cheer on the team, as I would any other relay. I am not going to make this into a fight between myself and U.S. coaches. It is not like that at all.''

Her focus first will be on her two individual events and a sometimes shaky start in the 100 metres.

Jones stumbled badly in her last race, in London, but recovered to win in exactly 11 seconds.

``She's having problems getting out of the blocks,'' Graham said. ``But other than that, her race is pretty much together. She would have run at least 10.7 in London if she didn't have that bad stumble throughout the entire drive phase.''

The problem, Jones said, was not the initial burst from the blocks but the first few steps.

``In London, my start was great,'' she said. ``It was my third step. I surprised myself so much with the great start that on the second and third step, I said: `whoa, whoa.'

``But I was able to stay relaxed and pull away from the field. That is a good sign for me, that even after a really big technical breakdown I was able to regain my composure and pull away from the field.

``So we are going to work on that over the next few days so that it is sharp. I think I am quite capable of running sub-10.8 in the 100.''

Her sterling performances of 10.65 seconds at 100 metres and 21.62 seconds for 200 metres, both at the 1998 world cup in Johannesburg, have not been approached in recent years.

This year's bests are 10.84 and 22.23 seconds respectively. Nonetheless both are the best in the world for 2001.

``I know the times have not been all that extraordinary (this year) but I have had definite technical breakdowns,'' Jones said.

Beijing, in 2008, will likely be her last Olympics, she said. ``But how many more years I will go after that, how many more World championships, is definitely up in the air.''

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