Marian Jones - Inside Sport

RCC

Wrong, just wrong.

How many times did she take the wrong decision! How much does she feel sorry for herself!

"Everybody makes mistakes and after I made my inital mistake I came clean" :roll:

Gabby Logan you are cheap too, how soft was that interview, shame all round! :evil:

Le Commentateur

So my guess is Logan didn't begin the interview with a Jeremy Paxman style 'knee-to-the-groin' opening question then?

Tom Butcher

Yes she didn't come across very well did she - gave the impression her only regret was getting caught.

She claims she'd have won her medals clean but if so she should have come back and proved it.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I heard the trailer for this last night on the radio (dressed up as a news article as the BBC has taken to doing a lot recently) and I was raving, my wife had to tell me to calm down. The bit they played was her saying she didn't deserve to go to jail. Wasn't she done for perjury? Given the evidence in the BALCO case my mind boggles as to how the BBC can give what appears to have been such a soft interview based on that excerpt and let her get away unchallenged on this stuff. RANT.

Pokerface

ESPN did a documentary on her (actually directed by John Singleton of Boyz N The Hood fame) as part of their 30 for 30 series. Called "Marion Jones: Press Pause".

It's a little bit more hard-hitting and in it she comes totally clean. Shows complete remorse as far as I can see. Also documents her transition into a pro basketball player in the WNBA.

I had a lot more respect for her after watching it. She still goes to schools and speaks about her experiences and going to jail, etc. And not because she HAS to....


Didn't see the BBC thing so no comment.

wicked

What really narks me is the way these cheats, for that is what they are, whinge that anyone can make a "mistake".
They make it sound like they made an error on a maths test not an attempt to cheat their way to the top fraudulently winning vast sums of money and adulation whilst making a mockery of their fellow competitors and the very fans that give them the opportunity.

And that silly cow Logan has lost all remaining credibilty as a journalist too. The only person to come out of that program with credit was Denise Lewis.

mrushton

gabby Logan isn't really a journalist. she is a presenter and as such probably has to 'soft'pedal' the interviews according to the editorial content. All these people are sorry when they are caught using drugs/prostitutes/cottaging etc but their agents/sponsors etc get on the case to keep the money flowing.

dulldave

Pokerface wrote:

ESPN did a documentary on her (actually directed by John Singleton of Boyz N The Hood fame) as part of their 30 for 30 series. Called "Marion Jones: Press Pause".

It's a little bit more hard-hitting and in it she comes totally clean. Shows complete remorse as far as I can see. Also documents her transition into a pro basketball player in the WNBA.

I had a lot more respect for her after watching it. She still goes to schools and speaks about her experiences and going to jail, etc. And not because she HAS to....


Didn't see the BBC thing so no comment.

There's a very good article that discusses the ESPN documentary in non-favourable terms.

http://3wiresports.com/2010/11/01/the-t ... is-a-liar/

Haven't seen it myself.

finchy

If Marion Jones hadn't doped, another doped athlete would have been sent to the Olympics in her place.

That's the problem with sport and doping - always looking for the rotten apple, without realising it's the barrel that's the problem.

Monty Dog

The fact that her both her partners got busted for PEDs, and she's claiming to be the 'victim' c'mon! Another tiresome " I never tested positive" just demonstrates how endemic PED abuse is endemic in the US collegiate / T&F arena. Bet she hasn't paid back the millions that the likes of Nike gave her for being their 'poster girl'?

cal_stewart

mrushton wrote:

cottaging

all I can think of is tesco carrier bags

Gazzetta67

It`s Great How Pro Cycling gets dogs abuse regarding drugs and other sports like athletics it's oh well dont do that again. Christine Ohuruogu is treated like nothing happened.

I complained to the BBC about how every time they mentioned David Millar it started with
"drugs cheat millar" ok i am not making excuses but this was nearly 5 years ago. You never here the BBC slate other sport the way cycling gets treated.

pedro118118

As far as I recall, for the first 18 months of his ban, David Millar squealed, bitched and moaned about how unfair the whole situation was and how he'd lost everything etc - just like Jones. Funnily enough, his epiphany came when he managed to regain his place in the pro peleton and start earning good money again. I don't blame him for this BTW, but let's not pretent the poster boy for anti-doping is quite the Saint he is painted to be.

wicked

pedro118118 wrote:

As far as I recall, for the first 18 months of his ban, David Millar squealed, bitched and moaned about how unfair the whole situation was and how he'd lost everything etc - just like Jones. Funnily enough, his epiphany came when he managed to regain his place in the pro peloton and start earning good money again. I don't blame him for this BTW, but let's not pretent the poster boy for anti-doping is quite the Saint he is painted to be.

Agree Pedro. Frankly his holier than thou preaching gets right on my tits.

Karl2010

johnfinch
That's the problem with sport and doping - always looking for the rotten apple, without realising it's the barrel that's the problem.


Id agree. Its the coach's / and other supporting staff / sponsors? / money men, who drive/minipulate these athlete's to dope, or dope the athlete without the athlete knowing whats going on.

Maybe a way around this is to have something like a 10 week mandatory course on doping, and the professional, physical, & mental consequence's.
+ philosophy's, morral's and principls of doping and sport in general!
Say 8 hours a day, 1 day per week, for 10 weeks.
Then athletes have to take an exam in it.

Maybe this would help make aware & protect young impressionable & nieve athletes.

Persoanly i think she deserves a second chance.

Tom Butcher

Googled David Millar 2004 2005 and the interviews that come up don't sound like squealing and bitching to me. Yes he's honest about paying a heavy price for what he did - you've got to think Millar would have been substantially less well off than Jones, was at an earlier stage in his career and wouldn't be financially secure. I don't see him saying it was all unfair though.

samiam

johnfinch wrote:

If Marion Jones hadn't doped, another doped athlete would have been sent to the Olympics in her place.

That's the problem with sport and doping - always looking for the rotten apple, without realising it's the barrel that's the problem.

This.

The sad fact is that sport stopped being sport when millions of pounds became involved. Remember those 'what would you do for a million quid?' debates you had as a child? Modern day sport is the disappointing embodiment of that question.

I genuinely believe that all top level sport is entrenched in performance enhancing drugs to the same level, or likely far greater, than professional cycling. I'd even wager that darts players are on methylphenidate!

The reason these athletes are so upset when they get caught is because nobody else did!

Pross

Gazzetta67 wrote:

It`s Great How Pro Cycling gets dogs abuse regarding drugs and other sports like athletics it's oh well dont do that again. Christine Ohuruogu is treated like nothing happened.

I complained to the BBC about how every time they mentioned David Millar it started with
"drugs cheat millar" ok i am not making excuses but this was nearly 5 years ago. You never here the BBC slate other sport the way cycling gets treated.

That's because nothing did happen - she missed tests but even the doping authorities didn't believe she was doping. She still got banned though. In fact, athletics is one of the few sports that has taken drug testing as 'seriously' as cycling for years. I think there are other sports that treat it far more lightly, mainly big money sports like football and tennis.

dougzz

Pross wrote:

That's because nothing did happen - she missed tests but even the doping authorities didn't believe she was doping. She still got banned though. In fact, athletics is one of the few sports that has taken drug testing as 'seriously' as cycling for years. I think there are other sports that treat it far more lightly, mainly big money sports like football and tennis.

Some ban, she went to the Olympics........

Something did happen, she missed 3 tests, why was that then, given athletes likes cyclists know the importance of that. She's trained by Linford Christie though, so she must be clean

bigmat

Pross wrote:

That's because nothing did happen - she missed tests but even the doping authorities didn't believe she was doping.

ha ha haha ha ha ha ha hee hee ha ha ha ha hahahha haha ha ha

Please stop.

Pross

So what happened when Rio Ferdinand missed a drug test? Ohurugou has gone on to win medals since her ban with no suggestion that she is doping, the BOA ban on running in the Olympics was overturned by CAS. A 12 month ban and having to fight 2 appeals at CAS hardly seems to fit in with

It`s Great How Pro Cycling gets dogs abuse regarding drugs and other sports like athletics it's oh well dont do that again. Christine Ohuruogu is treated like nothing happened.

For all their failings cycling and athletics have probably done more to catch dopers than any other sport.

mroli

Gazzetta67 wrote:

Christine Ohuruogu is treated like nothing happened.

I think that just shows that you don't follow athletics very closely. I don't either really, but am well aware of the fuss around Ohurogou and the soul searching that went round allowing her to represent GB in the olympics. Look at Dwain Chambers and how he has been villified since his ban and during his "return". To say that athletics doesn't treat drug cheats with approbrium is wrong.

pedro118118

Tom Butcher wrote:

Googled David Millar 2004 2005 and the interviews that come up don't sound like squealing and bitching to me. Yes he's honest about paying a heavy price for what he did - you've got to think Millar would have been substantially less well off than Jones, was at an earlier stage in his career and wouldn't be financially secure. I don't see him saying it was all unfair though.

Try referring to the archives of The Times for one. DM spent the best part of a year refusing to answer questions and post smoking gun, going into great detail about how much of a 'victim' he was and how he'd lost his house in Biaritz and all his money and how he'd been shafted by Cofidis. It's only relatively recently he's started to be more honest about what happened, why and who was to blame. Who knows, perhaps Marion Jones may feel the same way in a couple of years?

Tom Butcher

Your description didn't tally with my recollection so I googled a couple of interviews from the period he was banned - one from the year he was caught - neither read like that to me.

pedro118118

Tom Butcher wrote:

Your description didn't tally with my recollection so I googled a couple of interviews from the period he was banned - one from the year he was caught - neither read like that to me.

I suppose if you didn't get a Google-strike then it couldn't possibly be true, then.

DaveyL

pedro118118 wrote:

Tom Butcher wrote:

Your description didn't tally with my recollection so I googled a couple of interviews from the period he was banned - one from the year he was caught - neither read like that to me.

I suppose if you didn't get a Google-strike then it couldn't possibly be true, then.

How about providing links to back up your claims? That's usually the way it works, innit?

sampras38

Pokerface wrote:

ESPN did a documentary on her (actually directed by John Singleton of Boyz N The Hood fame) as part of their 30 for 30 series. Called "Marion Jones: Press Pause".

It's a little bit more hard-hitting and in it she comes totally clean. Shows complete remorse as far as I can see. Also documents her transition into a pro basketball player in the WNBA.

I had a lot more respect for her after watching it. She still goes to schools and speaks about her experiences and going to jail, etc. And not because she HAS to....


Didn't see the BBC thing so no comment.

I saw the BBC interview and it was indeed soft, and from where I was sitting, MJ didn't come across very at all. It was a soft interview but you don't know what was agreed between her people and the Beeb beforehand.

She just doesn't come across as particularly remorseful to me...at least in this interview, and she was asked the question about whether cheats should receive a life-time ban and she said no. Going on about degrees of cheating etc etc.

Pretty much every boyfriend or manager she ever had during her hey-dey was dodgy as f...

sampras38

samiam wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

If Marion Jones hadn't doped, another doped athlete would have been sent to the Olympics in her place.

That's the problem with sport and doping - always looking for the rotten apple, without realising it's the barrel that's the problem.

This.

The sad fact is that sport stopped being sport when millions of pounds became involved. Remember those 'what would you do for a million quid?' debates you had as a child? Modern day sport is the disappointing embodiment of that question.

I genuinely believe that all top level sport is entrenched in performance enhancing drugs to the same level, or likely far greater, than professional cycling. I'd even wager that darts players are on methylphenidate!

The reason these athletes are so upset when they get caught is because nobody else did!

Money is definately part of the problem but there certainly wasn't much of it about when the likes of Jacques Anquetil was wolfing down handfulls of pills in the 50's..;-)

spezial

Pokerface wrote:

ESPN did a documentary on her (actually directed by John Singleton of Boyz N The Hood fame) as part of their 30 for 30 series. Called "Marion Jones: Press Pause".

It's a little bit more hard-hitting and in it she comes totally clean. Shows complete remorse as far as I can see. Also documents her transition into a pro basketball player in the WNBA.

I had a lot more respect for her after watching it. She still goes to schools and speaks about her experiences and going to jail, etc. And not because she HAS to....


Didn't see the BBC thing so no comment.

Sorry to back track to an earlier point, just wanted to mention that ESPN program as I've seen that and the BBC one. I thought the tone of them both was pretty similar, neither really probed into what happened during the doping years, and mainly focussed on the aftermath, where she made herself sound like the victim of some terrible injustice.
I suppose if you're going to include interviews with the perpetrator in the program, they're not going to want to go to all that trouble to make themselves look bad, both programs dd try to balance it out with some negative points made in interviews with other people though, even if they didn't get much out of Jones herself.
As she is still actively involved in professional sport it might be a while til we get a warts and all confessional about what those years were like, I would imagine it makes for a pretty grim story, especially the time she was together with Tim Montgomery. I bet that was a pretty unpleasant household.
On another note, in that same ESPN 30 for 30 series, I'd recommend the "The Two Escobars" documentary, really well made and very interesting, but not too uplifting, as you would imagine.

slojo

Gabby Logan admits going easy on Jones here:

http://www.athletics-weekly.com/article.php?id=1675



"There are legals here. She's never tested positive for drugs. You can't sit there and call someone a drugs cheat when they've never tested positive for drugs. You have to work within the legal parameters and the legals were all over this programme."

"We had to take some things out that would have got us into serious trouble had they wanted to take action against us."

spezial

slojo wrote:

Gabby Logan admits going easy on Jones here:

http://www.athletics-weekly.com/article.php?id=1675



"There are legals here. She's never tested positive for drugs. You can't sit there and call someone a drugs cheat when they've never tested positive for drugs. You have to work within the legal parameters and the legals were all over this programme."

"We had to take some things out that would have got us into serious trouble had they wanted to take action against us."

She said something similar on her twitter feed, Jones had her lawyer sitting next to her and pretty much everything was set out as being off limits before they sat down.