By Gene Cherry
RALEIGH, North Carolina, Jan 26 Reuters - Marion Jones’s coach expects the former Olympic sprint champion to be among the world’s best again this year after two agonising seasons in which she failed to rank in the world’s top 10.
I say 'stick around' to people who think Marion Jones is done,'' coach Steve Riddick told Reuters in a telephone interview from Norfolk, Virginia. Marion Jones is not done. She is going to come back and run very well. It is going to be hard to keep her off U.S. teams in the future.’’
Riddick said Jones, 30, had looked in prime form during a three-week training session in Miami.
The triple gold medallist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was ranked world No.1 for six consecutive years before taking the 2003 season off for the birth of her son Monty with her then-partner Tim Montgomery.
Jones has failed to regain her lofty status since returning to the sport in 2004.
But Riddick, who made similar predictions last year, says he believes Jones will be among the elite this year after failing to win a medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and missing out on the U.S. team for last year’s world championships.
She is training very well,'' said Riddick, a former world-class sprinter himself. I think she can come back and make a serious statement.’’
Riddick said he thought the stress of Montgomery’s lengthy case before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation of Jones, who (also) has never failed a doping test, had seriously affected Jones’s sprinting.
The stress of this whole thing had to take its toll,'' said Riddick. There’s nothing else it could be beside that. Marion Jones was in shape last year. She was more powerful than she has ever been in the weight room.’’
Jones’s fastest time in the 100 metres was only 11.28 seconds, tying her for the 27th best in the world and more than six-tenths slower than her 1998 personal best of 10.65 seconds.
She also faltered in the 400 metres, finishing last in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in 55.03 seconds, a time slower than her high school best in the event.
When she started saying things in press conferences like 'I am human, too' that let people know this is affecting me, too,'' Riddick said. Montgomery and Jones have since split as a couple. She’s in good spirits right now,’’ Riddick said of Jones, noting they frequently shot pool together after practice these days.
``She reads a lot, too, and she goes to a lot of movies.’’
Son Monty, now 2-1/2 years old, also brings Jones much joy, Riddick said.
She is so in to him right now, and rightly so,'' said Riddick. The guy is talking now and that just tickles her pink.’’