Jones bounces back into focus

Athletics Women's long jumpFor Marion Jones, it was not the longest jump of her career but it must have felt like a vault towards liberation.

The former diva of American track finally appeared at the Olympic stadium last night and even if they did not pin a scarlet letter to her uniform, her presence was enough to excite the mongers of scandal.

Last night she qualified with ease for the long jump final, but in four years she has moved from the centrepiece of the Olympic Games in Sydney to a bit show here in Athens.

Another fine evening of athletics revolved around the unforgettable atmosphere created by the local girl Fani Halkia, who took gold in the 400m hurdles to riotous Greek approval. Not so long ago, Jones was accustomed to performing to such a deafening soundtrack of adoration. Here, though, she was greeted with muted respect and general curiosity. After the national shock created by Greek track icons Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou, who withdrew from the Olympics after finding themselves at the heart of a drugs scandal, the hosts were in no position to prejudge the American.

There was no need anyway: in the months before these Olympics, Jones's name and reputation had been roundly sullied in her native newspapers and talk shows. Relationships with disgraced shot-putter CJ Hunter and heavily compromised 100 metres record holder Tim Montgomery and the appearance of Jones's name in files seized from the offices of Balco, the nutrient-turned-EPO supplier, was enough to all but hang her. So having already tried her, the American media regarded her debut as these Athens games by piously ignoring her. As if.

After Jones qualified for the final with her second jump, a distance of 6.70, the charge through the underground passageways of the stadium resembled the more realistic parts of the climactic scenes of the old Steve McQueen film The Towering Inferno. Hundreds of the USA representatives were already waiting in the mixed zone, the hellish mosh pit where the athletes are invited to have cosy conversations with the media. As they waited, the jury pondered the likelihood of some sweet time with the condemned.

"I'd say about one in ten." "After Sacramento, I don't care if she talks or not. I don't care if she jumps or not. I don't care if she wins or not." "I don't know, I heard a guy on the phone say 'I'm at Marion tonight.'" "We got two columnists here. It's gonna be all Marion tomorrow."

It made for a pretty amusing sight, the crush against the metal fence by the many who turned away for her like she were a January breeze coming in from Lake Michigan not so long ago.

It was, of course, the perfect opportunity for Jones to adhere to her sobriquet of Hard Nails and breeze by the notebooks and recorders with her head in the air. But Jones, who graduated in Communications from North Carolina, is too well versed for that. Her commercial stock has not been as low since she was a freshman basketball guard for the Tar Heels. The cold war that developed between her and her former media suitors was something she could not have imagined four years ago. Confronted with hundreds of (white) professional faces in the steamy, wretched mixed zone, MJ did what comes naturally to her. She turned it on. She crowd pleased.

"It was nice. Nice to finally get into the stadium. You know, I have been sitting at home watching things going on for the past few days so it was a good feeling. I felt quite good in my first jump. The plan was to get a big jump and it was but there was a, em, small bit of a foul there.

"Then for the second one I just wanted to be safe. Anyone who is accustomed to seeing me in the third jump, when its close-your-eyes time, well, I didn't want to go there." Suddenly, it was just like old times. Marion smiled and the frosty faces melted.

"Oh, the Russians are jumping good, blah, blah, blah. I was pretty upset I went in two jumps - I figured I would be back home to watch the 200. But hey, I'm excited now. I'm ready. I'm ready to jump for it."

If Jones's reference to the women's sprint final was laced in irony, it was sweetly disguised. Her absence from her signature sprint events seemed all the more glaring after it was apparent that America claimed gold in neither the 100 or the 200.

Already, speculation is gathering that the fallen woman of US track will be invited to run the relay.

"Well, I haven't heard a darn thing," she laughed when the notion was put to her.

On down the long line she moved, answering the same queries with charm, voice loud enough so it could be heard by those hanging out of the rafters: a complete professional.

Jones's jump of 6.70 was considerably down on the evening's best jump: 6.95 by Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia.

But she is back in an Olympic final, where she determined she would be when the incriminating suggestions emanating from the Balco affair undermined her very participation. Now, more medals are on the horizon, Balco or not.

In the autumn, Jones may well have extremely serious allegations to answer on that subject and it is too early to speculate how posterity will judge an athletic career that has been exceptional.

But in Athens, Marion Jones stood alone on one side of the dividing metal fence and the heavy hitters of the American print and rouge game were moulded together on the other.

It was not quite like the nights by the Sydney Opera House but she had her symphony.