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{mosimage}It’s easy to jump on an all-righteous bandwagon. Easy to
think that former track and field superstar Marion Jones should be stripped of
Olympic medals, and erased from the record books for as far back as the summer
of 2000. That along with having Jones give back over $700,000 in prize money
would be nothing more than justice served right?

Now hold on, not so fast. This is
women’s track and field we are talking about, something I have followed for
years. How can you strip Marion of all that she won and boot her right out of
the record books without giving a second thought to the myriad of track and
field stars who have also cheated their way onto the record books?

Remember Marita Koch? No? I do.
She is the East German wonder woman who still holds the record for the 400
meters. I remember Koch’s world record race on October 6, 1985 at the World Cup
of track and field. Koch clocked an amazing 47.60 seconds for the distance.
It’s a record no one has come close to matching or beating. A brilliant run,
except for the simple fact that Koch was using anabolic steroids in the form of
Oral-Turinabol at the time. Sure, Koch unlike Marion never publicly admitted
it, but we have records of it, plenty of documentation from the former program that
the East Germans ran. So why can Koch keep her records? Why are her medals not
tainted? Why does she get to keep her glory? Why? Because she is not a tearful
confessing American, that’s why! She was part of a Communist regime where
cheating was the order of the day, and the world turned and still turns a blind
eye towards the accomplishments of those regimes.

Still not convinced huh?  Well then, how about the record holder for
the 800 meters, Jarmila
Kratochvilova? Ever see her run in her glory days? She who beat Koch at 400
meters and whose 800 meter record is one of the oldest in the books? One look
at her manly muscular physique and you had to know that something was up with
her. Guess what? Her national team in Czechoslovakia was also heavily into
performace enhancing drugs. But is she stripped off her record? Heavens no!

Yet here we stand, with Marion Jones as the sacrifical lamb for the sport.
We stand ready to crucify her without an inkling of knowledge on the history of
the sport. Very well then, let the first sinless nation cast the first
proverbal stone. Ah, I see all former Soviets, East Germans, Romanians, and
Chinese dropping their stones and moving silently away from Marion Jones. Just
one more thing, how about turning in your medals, prize money and records on
your way out.

The Hypocrasy of it all. Well, at least they gave Jim Thorpe back his
medals. We will miss you Marion Jones.