Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

[Since 1956]

I posted this idea on the long thread re: MJ and didn't get much response, so I thought I'd put it up on a new thread to find out what others think.

The most obvious reason to me that indicates that Marion hasn't cheated is the fact that she is running slower. Since 1998 when she posted all her current PR's including her 10.65 100m she has been running significantly slower. If she has been cheating, why is she running about 11.00 right now? I'm sure she will improve as the season goes on, but I'll be surprized if she even approaches 10.65. So, if she has been taking something to "enhance" her performance, it isn't working!

[basehead617]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

most of the documents refer to pre-sydney i think.. so i think its likely she was cheating 98-2000 when she was running her best.

[Friar]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

She just had a baby: one would hope she wasn't taking anything,even an aspirin, for at least 8 months. I don't think she is as obvious as some of the others, but she sure hung with the wrong crowd. NPR had a show at 7edt on the subject. I only heard a few min. but the concensus of the 2 guests was that her guilt is a 50/50 prop.

[Jon]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

And like I said on the other thread - just because she's running crap now, it doesn't mean that she's clean. Look at Angella Issajenko - she was doped for many years, but only had one or two good (in terms of times) years.

[Grazerism]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

A crazy thought: I read somewhere here that Marion posed for a photo with Conte. If she had had any idea that he was doing anything illegal or giving her anything illegal, she never would have done that. Speculative scenario: CJ is hooked up with Balco, gets Marion involved without her knowing the whole story. She's still of course responsible for anything she puts in her body...

[fucking lane 10]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

or she thought that THG, HGH would never be found, had nothing to worry about, and felt comfortable posing with a guy who makes "supplements" for her...

Cmon guys, these athletes would never have thought, there little secret would have been found., except for one elite coach who decided it was time to let the world know...otherwise Kelli White would have been running this year, and taking the golds...

The authorities have missed norbolethone, certain athletes using EPO for 100-400m over the last 10 years...think about it...200/400....

[Oldtimer]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

>A crazy thought: I read somewhere here that Marion posed for a photo with
>Conte. If she had had any idea that he was doing anything illegal or giving
>her anything illegal, she never would have done that.

Don't know old the photo is, but here it is...

http://www.snac.com/

[Rob]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

..

[OldSprint]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

Well, do you remember when she lost to Zhanna Block at Worlds in 2001? Her form also looked ragged and legs flapping as if she was trying extra hard to run fast.

[tafnut]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

"She was taking something when she was running her fastest times."

Given her high school times, wouldn't a natural progression with an emphasis on more weight training have produced the times she ran? That's her greatest defense - she was not an overnight sensation - she was 15 (and most assuredly clean) when she burst onto the scene big-time.

[kuha]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

Right. For my money, the two signs of "untainted" talent are reasonably smooth progression in improvement, and no radical change in body type/structure. We can all speculate as to how many sprinters pass this (largely subjective) "test."

[Rob]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

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[Jon]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

Well put, Rob. I agree.

[hamstrung]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

More like 11 or 11.1??????????? Marion ran those times in high school (11.14 and 22.58). With natual progression, weights and decent coaching, Marion should have easily been sub 11 and sub 22.

[tafnut]

Re: Practical evidence that Marion Jones is innocent.

"a 'clean' athlete with World Championship pedigree would NEVER run 200m in 23.4, unless the track was long, uphill, and there was a 10m/s headwind."

I'm having trouble buying that. In the years before drugs, no one ever had a rough patch of road? In baseball it's called a slump and can last a long time. There are too many varaibles to assign bad performance levels to 'oh, she's off the juice now.' It's just like when someone has a big breakthrough, it doesn't always have to be drugs. Sometimes it just happens.