In a courtroom in New York today, the downward spiral of Marion Jones, the
disgraced American athlete, will bottom out when she is sentenced, having
pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury. Prosecutors have recommended a
prison sentence of up to six months.
For readers of the sports pages, the key perjury charge is for lying on oath
about her steroid use. Judge Kenneth Karas is unlikely to be swayed by the
way she has positioned herself in the media; even since being forced to come
clean, Jones has presented to the world a straight face and absurdly
economical version of the truth.
YouTube still shows the clips of Jones making a tearful, public confession on
the steps of a New York courtroom on October 5. This performance followed a
tell-all letter to “family and close friends” — which also found its way to
The Washington Post — in which she promised no longer to “candy-coat”
her story, explaining that she had “tapped around the truth for too long”.
The “truth” as she delivered it was that, from 1999, Trevor Graham, her coach,
conned her by giving her tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), the designer drug, and
telling her that it was flaxseed oil to help her diet. She says that she
never questioned or suspected it, that she “never knowingly took any banned
substances” and that “it was not until after I left Trevor at the end of
2002 that I began to wonder whether he had given me something to enhance my
performance”.
When federal agents interviewed her in 2003, they showed her a sample of THG
and asked if she recognised it. She says that she panicked and said no. This
was perjury count one.
However, court documents released on December 21 suggest that candy-coating
remains a Jones habit. These documents reveal an extremely detailed doping
calendar whereby she took on board not only THG but erythropoietin (EPO),
human growth hormone and insulin. Furthermore, they show that she had her
blood tested at a private laboratory to ensure that she could beat the dope
tests.
Add to this the longstanding testimony of C. J. Hunter, her former husband,
and Victor Conte, her nutritionist, that they witnessed her taking drugs and
it may not come as a surprise that the Government’s sentencing memo for
court today tells us that “the context of the defendant’s use of
performance-enhancing substances, as detailed in the documents seized from
Balco, shows a concentrated, organised, long-term effort to use these
substances for her personal gain, a scenario wholly inconsistent with
anything other than her denials being calculated lies to agents who were
investigating that same conduct”.
As crimes against the Olympic movement go, few have committed worse and only
one would deny Jones first place. The gold medal surely goes to Manfred
Ewald, the chief architect of the old East Germany’s doping regime. He was
responsible for doping as many as 10,000 athletes and distorting two decades
of Olympic results. Ben Johnson may remain more notorious, but his success
as a con artist was short-term next to Jones.
Likewise Justin Gatlin, the men’s Olympic 100 metres champion, who tested
positive two years ago, although Gatlin’s situation is fascinating because
the IAAF, the world governing body of athletics, could have hit him for six
long ago. When Gatlin tested positive for the first of his two offences he
was a 19-year-old, little-known college boy who claimed that he was on
medication for attention deficit disorder. When considering his case, Istvan
Gyulai, the IAAF’s late general secretary, argued, contrary to some of his
senior colleagues, that because Gatlin was young, amateur and probably going
nowhere, they should cut him some slack. They did decide to hand him the
equivalent of a pardon — and that is now being employed in Gatlin’s defence.
The concurrent publicity of Gatlin fighting his case and Jones possibly
going to prison for losing hers is no way that anyone would have wanted to
start an Olympic year.
The evidence in Jones’s defence today includes character reference testimony
from friends urging leniency. One is from her husband, Obadele Thompson, a
former world-class sprinter, but more influential may be Sue Humphrey, head
coach of the United States women’s track team at the Athens Olympics in 2004
and therefore exactly the kind of figure who might have been expected to
condemn Jones. Humphrey lives in Austin, Texas, and struck up a friendship
with Jones when she and Thompson moved there. She told The Times that, in
standing by Jones, she was only supporting the person she had befriended
recently, not the woman guilty of taking drugs in an earlier life.
“When I discovered the truth about Marion, it was like getting socked in the
stomach,” she said. “I am definitely against performance-enhancing drugs,
but gradually I began to see Marion as two different entities. I am standing
by the Marion I know now — the mother, the wife, the friend.”
Was she not concerned that Jones may have been doping in 2004, when she was
her head coach? “I did ask Marion if there was any reason why she should not
be on the relay team,” Humphrey said. “It was obvious what I was talking
about. She said no, there wasn’t. She certainly didn’t perform that year in
a way that suggests she was doing anything inappropriate.”
Humphrey’s view is that “the people around her back then didn’t have her best
interests at heart”. One of those would be Tim Montgomery, the father of her
first child who is awaiting a sentence of his own, having pleaded guilty to
fraud in a money-laundering case. Jones received an illegal cheque as part
of this scam but lied about her involvement, which, today, will be perjury
count two.
In his sentencing memorandum, Henry DePippo, Jones’s lawyer, states: “As a
result of her conduct and plea, Marion has already lost everything — the
only livelihood she has ever known, her professional accomplishments, her
financial security and her reputation — all in the most public manner
possible.”
Indeed she has. Although when she has finally put this mess behind her, one
suspects that there will be a large movie and book deal in it for her, too.
Fellow miscreants
Michael Vick Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback now on drugs
treatment programme in a Kansas prison, serving 23 months on a federal
dogfighting conviction.
O. J. Simpson The former American footballer is awaiting trial on
charges including armed robbery, assault with deadly weapon and first-degree
kidnapping with use of deadly weapon.
Barry Bonds Broke Major League Baseball home run record in August last
year. Three months later, indicted on perjury charges for lying while under
oath about alleged use of steroids.
Mike Tyson Self-styled Baddest Man on Planet. Did third prison stint
recently for narcotics possession and driving under their influence.
Sentence: one day.
Roscoe Tanner 1977 Australian Open champion, known for fastest serve in
tennis. Sentenced in 2006 to two years for violating probation on grand
theft conviction: bouncing $35,595 cheque used to buy 32-foot boat in 2000.
Tim Montgomery Former partner of Marion Jones, father of her first son
and former 100 metres world record-holder. Stripped of world record after
found guilty of steroid use. Last year found guilty of fraud in
money-laundering case.
