Angry Jones claims she is not spent force

MARION JONES has outlined her determination to prove wrong the critics who think she is a spent force in athletics.

The American track and field star had a torrid time over the last nine days at the US Olympic trials in Sacramento which ended last night, failing to qualify for the 100 metres and withdrawing from the 200m citing fatigue.

"I was extremely disappointed by the way I ran," Jones said of her 100m performance, when she finished fifth in the final on the first Saturday of the trials. "You want to run your best when you are supposed to. This is the most difficult Olympic trials in the world and you have to place in the top three or you won't go. It just didn't happen on the day for me."

Jones, aged 29, will be competing in Athens next month having won the long jump competition at the trials in her native California, but her absence from the sprints means she will not be defending the 100m and 200m Olympic titles she won as part of a five-medal haul in Sydney.

A lot has changed since she earned the nickname 'Super Marion'. She divorced shot putter CJ Hunter, who had tested positive in a drugs test and been banned and began dating men's 100m world record holder Tim Montgomery. The couple had a child, Tim Junior, last summer but both parents then became embroiled in the federal investigation into the distribution of the previously undetectable designer steroid THG to elite athletes by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).

Neither has tested positive in any drug test, but Montgomery has since been charged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for doping violations on the basis of non-analytical positives.

Although Jones has not been charged with any doping offence, she came into the competition under a cloud of suspicion, and though she has repeatedly and vehemently denied taking performance-enhancing substances, the threat of charges from USADA and ensuing media scrutiny appeared to have affected her performances on the track.

Admitting as much, Jones promised to bounce back to the days when she was the sport's biggest star.

"The 'Super Marion' label was never used by myself. When you have so many good performances, you can start to think you are pretty good. This year I have been slapped in the face. This just happened to be a really bad year and I can't quietly have a bad year. I'm optimistic I will end the year on a high not with gold medals and after Athens I will regroup, come back and reach to where I was in the past, if not better. I'm extremely optimistic about that.

"If anything, this down year will provide even more motivation to want to prove to myself and to the world that I'm not this old, shriveled up mother that only runs 11.14 and doesn't run the semis of the 200 metres. I'm 29 years old and still able to get it done. That will be my goal, definitely that will be my goal."

Aside from the long jump, Jones did not rule out the outside possibility she may be asked to represent her country in the 100m after all.

With Torri Edwards, who came second in the 100m final at the trials, facing a hearing tomorrow over her positive test for the stimulant nikethamide during a meet on the Caribbean island of Martinique earlier this year, there is the possibility a two-year ban would rule the athlete out of the Olympics.

The fourth spot was taken by 37-year-old, two-time Olympic 100m champion Gail Devers, but she has been specialising in the 100m hurdles for many years and is likely to turn down an invitation to compete on the flat in order to concentrate on winning a long-awaited first Olympic medal in the discipline.

That would leave the door open for the next in line, fifth-placed Jones, to move into a team spot.

"If I do get offered a spot in the 100, I'll take advantage of it and prepare for it over the next few weeks. In case it happens I'll run some races in Europe."