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Saturday, September 30
Jones caps Games with impressive 400 run


SYDNEY, Australia -- Marion Jones' total for the Sydney Olympics: three golds, two bronze and one incredible leg of the 4x400 meter relay.

Five medals -- more than any other woman ever in track and field.

"It's hard for me to reflect right now," Jones said. "In a couple of days, when I look back, I'll probably feel these were successful games. I wanted to win them all, without a doubt, and I still think it's possible. But I didn't, so I'm not going to dwell on that."

And she probably could win the 400, too.

But don't worry, Cathy Freeman. Jones has no desire to ever, ever be a 400-meter runner, even though she and Freeman had the fastest legs of any runners in Saturday night's finals of the women's 4x400 meter relay.

Jones' up-and-down-and-up week at Olympic Stadium ended with one last appearance on the gold medal stand as part of the winning U.S. team in the 4x400 meter relay.

"You have no worries," she told Australians. "I do not plan to challenge Cathy at all. It's hers for as long as she wants it."

Freeman and Jones were hand-timed in 49.4 seconds, but Jones' remarkable run came in the third leg, and it gave the United States a huge lead that made it nearly impossible to lose.

Somehow, Jones was able to run that incredibly fast leg of the 4x400 at the end of nine days in which she also ran three heats and a finals in the 100 meters, three heats and a final in the 200, the qualifying and final rounds of the long jump and the anchor leg of the 4x100-meter relay.

Not to mention dealing with the announcement that her husband had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone.

She said her coach, Trevor Graham, deserves the credit for getting her through it.

"I'm tired, now," Jones told reporters shortly after her relay victory. "I'm tired, but I actually feel surprisingly good. I think it just says a lot about the type of training that Trevor put me through this year, the fact that I can go through all these days and still stand up here and talk to you guys -- for too long."

Then she was gone with a smile.

The night did not begin so well for Jones.

She had practiced with the rest of the 4x100-meter relay team for the first time only that afternoon. So she was rusty at getting the baton for the anchor leg.

And there was an even worse exchange between the second and third runners, Torri Edwards and Nanceen Perry. The exchange between Perry and Jones was so bad that Jones took an almost standing start. She made up some ground, but could only get the bronze, behind silver medalist Jamaica and gold medalist the Bahamas.

Jones waved off reporters afterward.

"I've got a 400 meters to run in an hour and a half," she said.

And boy did she run it.

"I told her that was one of the smoothest legs in the 400 that I've ever seen," said Jearl Miles-Clark. "I'm just happy she was on my team. I've told her before, `If you train for this thing, you could set the world record,' and she just looks at me like I'm crazy."

Jones makes no secret of her dislike for the race, but she never lost power as she rounded the curve down the final stretch.

"I've got no desire to run it," Jones said. "It's an event that I don't like how I feel after it because I'm the type of athlete I like to be in control of my body, and in that last stretch you really have no control of your body."


 

ALSO SEE
Track and field results

Not even Jones could save women's 400 relay

Jones leads relay team to gold; U.S. men sweep

Men's relay team offends some with display after victory




   
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