Oprah Winfrey Interviews Marion Jones (Again)

AND SO SHALL IT CONTINUE

The fight against doping in sport continues to demonstrate that anti-doping organisational effort, despite its best intention, can – and often does – lead to unfruitful results. Governmental effort, on the other hand, can – and does – lead to prison terms for those who have lied to federal agencies which do not tolerate bending of truth – no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time.

When BALCO was placed on the world map, the common thought which trickled down from law-enforcement agencies down to the anti-doping folks was that the majority of underground drugs and secret chemists were attached to that single, solitary distributor of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and that Victor Conte, the company founder, was the big catch. Stopping Conte’s operation would put a stop to most illegal performance-enhancing drug trafficking, it was believed, and forcing Conte’s hand would root out the smaller fish in the pond as well.

Authorities nabbed Conte, but they were never able to force him to open up and deliver names, locations, dates and drugs his clients used, nor, more importantly, who his customers were. Conte decided to do that himself in a tell-all book due to be published later this year.

Conte’s say-nothing attitude toward the government, done so according to Conte to protect the integrity of all of the athletes caught in the BALCO trial, left smaller fish hoping larger-scale trials involving multiple persons would not result in outing them then.

They were able to remain secret until Trevor Graham and his big trial whisked on by and took the world by storm...again. Graham is a man who was caught in a desperate attempt to squirm from previous lies told to the government about his connections to drugs and drug dealers. His is a winded story which will get some print and discussion as this blog series unfolds, as he played a particular role in helping Marion Jones and other athletes cover up their lies about performance-enhancing drug use.

The drug game has appeared to shift toward the favour of the pursuers, namely the international anti-doping body, WADA, but the aftermath of BALCO is so far-reaching that one book on the topic would not serve justice to the subject.

Inasmuch as this blog series will be about justice and its pursuit of cheaters – specifically Marion Jones – and, to a lesser extent, Trevor Graham, you will witness a vast cover-up by a once-gifted athlete with more far-reaching impact on the sport of athletics than you may have ever imagined and the justice served her for her equal and opposite reward for her transgressions.

Marion Jones, the five-time Olympic medallist by method of fraud and deception, believed she was cast from being an American hero to a national disgrace before she turned herself in early to serve a six-month prison sentence for having twice lied to the government as a material witness in two important, unrelated cases.

That painful transformation provided a stern and public punishment for an athletic career she had been forced to leave following a lifetime of giving her all – a point she attempted to reason with Federal authorities.

Marion Jones, also stripped of world championship medals by the same method of fraud and deception, had taken on the backlash of public scorn from a nation that once adored her and called her its golden girl, and she wanted you and a judge from whom she was seeking mercy to know she’d be better of serving mankind outside of the iron gates which house people of similar discord who have wandered off desired societal paths in life, not behind them.

On 2008-January-11, when Marion Jones stood within the arms of justice’s wide-reaching grasp, she would be granted no such wish. Five months later, when the father of her first child would plead for mercy from that same judge, his and his own father’s words would not be met and returned with kindness.

Two months earlier, in November 2007, Marion Jones had publicly fallen from grace for sins against the institution of truthfulness, and she had been dealt severe punishments for her self-confessions, she believed; she had been stripped of certain gold medals, along with her accomplishments, her wealth and her public standing.

Marion Jones stood behind a microphone in October 2007 – with the entire world listening – and pretended to have cried in shame. Her articulation of her guilt – performed on queue with part of the reduced sentencing guideline requirements – were her efforts to come as clean as possible in order to be left alone to be an example to others – as a free individual slapped on the wrists, that is... or perhaps with an ankle brace attached as part of a home detention plan so she could continue raising her two boys.

She’d be granted no such reprieve by the Federal judge holding power over her – an upholder of the law to whom she called upon to “be as merciful as a human being can be”.

It had so become that Marion Jones felt so punished by those who once held her dear that she didn’t consider it justified to have her locked up for any period of time – however long or short. Her lawyers stated that by having confessed of her wrongdoings, she had lost the only livelihood she had ever known. They stated that her professional accomplishments, her financial security and her reputation were also severely and negatively impacted as a direct result of her dishonourable conduct and her resulting plea.

However, what is the equal and just reward for a pathological liar who obtained that livelihood, her accomplishments, her previous reputation and her financial well-being by method of fraud and deception?

Unfortunately for Marion Jones, her early Christmas wish-list vanished into thin air along with the truth those setting presents under the tree hoped she would reveal with regards to the darker side of her career. She was sentenced to six months imprisonment for lying to Federal authorities in two separate cases, and sat behind bars harbouring a secret concerning her love affair with performance-enhancing drugs, power and fame locked far into her inner soul.

Oprah is attempting to have a look inside of Marion Jones's soul today on her show. Unfortunately, what one will see is the same clinging on lies, lies and more lies.

And so the great chase began, and continues to this day insofar as Marion Lois Jones, a former athlete who was able to win Olympic medals by deceit, is unable to tell the truth concerning her rise and fall from the top.

This is Part 1.

All original content and investigative news written and published by EBY in Göteborg, Sverige unless otherwise stated.