SUPER MARION: The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation is bad enough, but it is not all that is worrying Marion Jones these days.
America's most decorated track athlete at the Sydney Games is struggling to regain her speed nine months after the birth of her first child.
Jones, 28, had her outdoor debut two weeks ago at the Mount San Antonio College Relays. Running in the 200 meters against a group of relative unknowns, Jones finished fourth.
It was the first time she had lost a 200-meter final since 1997 and her lowest finish in a race since the 1994 NCAA Championships.
"I can't expect it to happen overnight. Everybody thought it would," Jones told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Everybody has this idea of Super Marion, of Superwoman. That two months after giving birth, she's going to be back running like she was before."
Jones said the performance simply meant she would need to change her training to focus on regaining speed.
The next week, Jones fared better at the Penn Relays. She anchored the winning leg in both the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.
"I ran a little bit smarter than I did last week," Jones said after the relays. "Last week there were so many emotions, I took off like a bat out of you know where. Today I distributed a little more and felt stronger coming down the homestretch."
Jones, who still is dealing with the fallout of her ex-husband's relationship with BALCO and her own grand jury appearance, will once again attempt to win Olympic medals in the 100 and 200, as well as the long jump. She has been noncommittal about the two relay events.
AN OVERDUE HONOR: Legendary Olympic and Indiana University swimming coach Doc Counsilman will be presented posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award during a USOC function this evening.
Counsilman, who died in January, was the Olympic swimming coach in 1964 and 1976. The USA won more than half the swimming medals awarded in Tokyo, but that was just a warmup to what Counsilman's team did in Montreal.
The U.S. men won 11 of the 12 individual gold medals presented in the 1976 Games and both of the relay golds. U.S. men took 27 of a possible 36 individual medals in those Summer Games.
Along with his work at Indiana and with the USOC, Counsilman is considered one of the sport's great innovators in stroke and training techniques.
HELPING HAND: Thanks to the generosity of teammate Craig Stevens, Australia's Ian Thorpe will get a chance to repeat as the Olympic champion in the 400 freestyle.
Thorpe, considered by some to be swimming's most dynamic star since Mark Spitz, missed qualifying for the event when he fell into the pool at the start of the race in Australia's Olympic trials.
Although Thorpe had qualified in the 100 and 200 free, there was great angst in Australia because the 400 is his best event.
Stevens, who qualified second in the trials, said he had trouble sleeping while worrying what to do. Stevens will still represent Australia in relay events.
"The decision I've made is to stand aside in the 400 in the hope that I'll get to see Ian swim that race in the final on Day 1 at the Olympic Games," Stevens said.
His decision wasn't entirely painful. Stevens received $45,000 for telling his story to an Australian TV show.
- Compiled by John Romano from staff and wire reports.
