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By Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 21, 2000
SYDNEY, Australia -- If this is Marion Jones' Olympic fairy tale, the slippers are ready.
Not glass exactly, but clear, extremely expensive plastic. Actually, they're half-shoes. No heel. Jones doesn't need one because her heels never touch the ground when she's sprinting.
It is touted as the lightest spiked track shoe ever -- 3.5 ounces -- and the first without a heel.
The shoe was developed by Tobie Hatfield and Kevin Hoffer, the same Nike team that came up with shoes covered with shimmering droplets of 24-carat gold that Michael Johnson will wear in his races.
Jones' shoes are the product of nearly three years of research and design that began when Hatfield and Hoffer asked Jones what color of shoe she wanted.
"She goes, "Can you make them clear?' " Hatfield said. "We looked at each other and said, "Okay.'
"We're in advanced design. We like challenges, and that was certainly a challenge, so we said "Let's go for it.' "
Because no fabric is clear, the designers turned to a thermoplastic urethane similar to the material used in the air bags in the soles of the Nike Air models.
Jones isn't sure she will use the shoes in her races. She has trained in them but is nervous about using something so innovative in such an important competition.
Don't expect to see the shoe in a store soon. It would be way too expensive. The designers say they don't even know what the prototype cost.
EASIER PATH: Jones' path toward five gold medals got easier for the second day in a row. Tuesday, Inger Miller, a chief rival in the 100 and 200 meters, pulled out with an injured hamstring. Wednesday, Marie-Jose Perec, the defending champion in the 200 and 400, left Australia and will not compete. Denise Kaigler, a spokeswoman for Reebok, said Perec decided to withdraw after being threatened in her Sydney hotel room.
"Marie-Jose has been under a great deal of pressure, and yesterday afternoon she was harassed in her hotel room by an unidentified man who forced his way into her room and threatened her.
"Because of this unfortunate incident, Marie-Jose has decided to withdraw from competition."
NIGHT DREAMS: While Australian team officials reprimanded two swimmers for breaking curfew, an Australian newspaper reported that the U.S. men's basketball team was partying into the early hours.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph reported that members of the U.S. team stayed at an exclusive nightclub until nearly 4 a.m., then stopped at a fast-food restaurant for hamburgers.
SAMARANCH RETURNS: Three days after attending his wife's funeral in Spain, Juan Antonio Samaranch resumed his duties as president of the International Olympic Committee.
"These were not easy days for me," Samaranch, 80, told reporters in his first public appearance since returning to Sydney. "I am very happy to be back and take again the responsibility of the presidency of the IOC."
ROUNDING THIRD AND HEADING FOR... Several baseball agents who specialize in helping Cubans defect and sign major-league contracts, including Joe Cubas, are in Sydney for the Games.
"There's about four of us going over and, hopefully, seven coming back," said Gus Dominguez, an agent whose clients include Andy Morales, a former third baseman on Cuba's national team who defected in July. Dominguez also represented Rene Arocha, who in 1991 became the first Cuban ballplayer to defect.
Cubas helped pitcher Danys Baez defect from the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, last summer and then sign a $16-million contract with the Cleveland Indians. Cubas also helped pitcher Rolando Arrojo defect during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Arrojo later signed with the Devil Rays.
BAILEY SICK: Canada's Donovan Bailey, who set a world record while winning the 1996 gold medal in the 100 meters, may be too sick to defend his title. Several Canadian media outlets reported that Bailey has a viral infection and can barely jog without feeling exhausted. The first round of the 100 is today. DRUG DEALINGS: American coach Richard Quick believes some swimmers are using drugs, and he criticized the quality and frequency of testing.
"I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone or any nation, but it's definitely not drug-free," he said. "The IOC should make that the No. 1 priority."