Marion back in Europe
for Olympic buildup, Dragila ready to soar to new heights
Sean Wallace-Jones for IAAF in Stockholm
30 July 2000 – Marion Jones, is back in Europe and will be competing in
Tuesday’s DN Galan meeting in Stockholm as part of her build-up to the Sydney
Olympics.
The historic 1912 Olympic stadium in Stockholm will host the first appearance of Marion Jones on the track since the American track star’s success in the US Olympic Trials, where she secured her berth for Sydney in the 100m, 200m and long jump. Ms Jones will also compete in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays in the forthcoming Olympics.
Marion is relaxed and smiling as she speaks before the DN Galan: "I have just had a week off after the Trials, where I have been able to relax and train, play with my dogs and, yes, do some washing, if you must know," she smiles.
The Trials gave Jones a chance to experience some of the pressures that she will be under in Sydney and she came through with flying colours, even though she said she was exhausted and drained afterwards.
"the Trials is a really stressful time," she says. "It was a long week – although fortunately I had a good break between events.
"All the Americans are glad that the Trials are over. It’s the closest thing to the Olympics.
"I did my three events and I am on the US Olympic Team for the first time. I’m very happy it’s over."
Marion was particularly happy with her long jump result: "I thought that I ran a good hundred and then the long jump. My first time this year over seven metres and I won too.
"But it was lot of pressure too, especially after I fouled my second jump, so to win and jump over 7 metres was nice."
Asked about all the media hype surrounding the Greene-Johnson "feud", Jones laughed: "I don’t like the trash talking, especially when they start talking about personalities and things like the looks of the other. But the great thing was that it took some of the media pressure off me. So it would be great if it was always like that.
"The girls play games too, but they are a lot less vocal, it’s much more subtle. They don’t trash talk the same way, they just tend to sort of move in a special way or whatever. But none of that bothers me. I don’t get involved in trash talking, I just try to run as fast as I can and jump as far as I can.
"If I am a target of the pre-race games, I never noticed it. Anyway, I don’t think it’s necessarily targeted at me or anyone else, it’s more for the person themselves. Not like the guys. But really I don’t pay attention to it.
"When the race is over and, hopefully I’ve won, then I can laugh and smile and joke."
Tomorrow, Jones will be facing a fast line-up, notably including her friend and training partner Chandra Sturrup from the Bahamas.
"Chandra ran really well at the Bahama Nationals. She is also a great training partner. Having her running with you is great. I’ve trained with the guys and sometimes I can beat them over the sixty and that’s great, but having Sturrup running right there is really good," says Jones.
Zhanna Pintusevich, the winner of the 100 metres in last Friday’s IAAF Golden League meeting in Oslo, is also in Tuesday’s field.
"Zhanna is running real fast too –maybe her new haircut is helping, " jokes Marion. "Seriously, I’m looking forward to seeing her run like she did in ’97."
What about times on Tuesday?
"Well, the stadium record is 10.90 and DN Galan gives a diamond for a new meet record.
"Now I have seen a lot of people wandering around with those diamonds in their ears, so maybe it’s about time I had one too!" Jones has been twice under 10.90 this season, both times into a headwind, pushed by Sturrup and Pintusevich, you can almost see the diamond nestling in her earlobe already.
Another US star in Stockholm is the World Champion and World Record holder in the pole vault, Stacy Dragila and she sounds as confident as Jones as she looks forward to Tuesday, when she will confront, among others, Anzhela Balakhonova from the Ukraine and Australians Emma George and Tatyana Grigorieva.
Dragila is confidence personified after her World Record win at the US Trials, where she cleared 4.63 metres and believes that there is more, much more to come.
"Another World Record? Why not? To put the bar up to 16 feet (4.88 metres) isn’t such a big deal for me.
"I believe that women will soon get to 16-16½ feet (a sentiment shared by the Tsar of the discipline, Sergey Bubka, when we spoke to him in Monaco recently).
"Of course, only a handful will get to that level. It will be difficult to get to the next stage, seventeen feet" she continued.
"This is a bit of a breakneck discipline," said the ex-rodeo star and gymnast.
"I grew up rough and tough with my brother and pole vaulting is a daredevil thing to do!"
