Sport - Athletics

‘I admire Marion Jones’

NEW DELHI: Brushing aside suggestions that American athletics might have taken a back-seat on the world stage in the wake of a series of doping scandals, Jackie Joyner-Kersee asserted on Thursday that the U.S. athletes had to work hard and “wait for our turn” to dominate international athletics all over again.

In the city to promote Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, that is set to be flagged off on Sunday, Joyner-Kersee, the ‘First Lady of heptathlon’ as she is popularly known for her unrivalled record in the multis, was answering questions from mediapersons during an interaction in her role as the event ambassador.

“When an athlete tests positive there’s a problem,” she admitted. But Joyner-Kersee wanted the media to avoid “negativity”, for then sponsors would not be putting in their money into athletics.

She said that everybody should not be put in the same category just because a group of athletes had turned up “positive”. She added that consistency in testing was the key to the success of anti-doping campaign.

“It has to be across the board; otherwise it is unfair to all the athletes who work hard.”

Joyner-Kersee said that the she did not feel the U.S. domination in sprinting was over just looking at the Beijing Olympics results.

She pointed out the injury suffered by Tyson Gay during the U.S. trials— “the toughest in the world”— and termed Jamaican Usain Bolt as tremendous talent.

She said any attempt to paint American athletics as dope-tainted would be tantamount to an insult to the talent her country had in the sport.

Asked about Marion Jones, she said: “I admire Marion. I truly believed she had tremendous talent. She was caught up in a bad situation. She has paid the price. She is a great athlete; I know her since she was 14 years.”

Joyner-Kersee said that it was unfortunate that Carolina Kluft stayed away from the heptathlon competition in the Beijing Games.

The Swede could have easily won the gold, she opined.

She rated Kluft high for her athletics prowess and mental toughness. “She brings a different energy to the event.”

On her rivals Joyner-Kersee singled out German Heike Drechsler, though the latter did not take to heptathlon in a serious way over a longer period preferring to concentrate on long jump.

Long jump, Joyner-Kersee said, had been her favourite event in heptathlon, followed by the hurdles.

Javelin, she said, was fun, but too technical. The 200 could be fun too, but only sometimes. She had no liking for the 800 metres and the throws.

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