Jones Earns a Rare Sweep of 100, 200 and Long Jump

Weariness couldn’t prevent Marion Jones from becoming the first athlete in 50 years to win the women’s 100 and 200 meters and long jump in the USA Track and Field Championships at New Orleans.

Jones, 22, who has become the world’s most celebrated female athlete in the sport in only one year, completed the rare sweep Sunday by winning the 200 in 22.24 seconds while running into a head wind.

The time was the second-fastest of the year and only Jones has run faster.

“I was exhausted,” Jones said, after her tiring weekend that included three races in the 100 and two in the 200 in hot and humid conditions. Temperatures were consistently in the mid-to-high 90s and with the heat index the temperature on the field Sunday was 114 degrees.

“I’m happy and relieved to come out in this heat and win all three events. I didn’t feel any pressure,” said Jones, a former two-sport standout at Thousand Oaks High.

“But it’s the most difficult thing I’ve done. The 100 and long jump took a lot out of me.”

Jones began her assault on the rare triple Saturday by winning the 100 and long jump.

Her time in the 100 was 10.72--again only she has run faster this year.

Her winning effort in the long jump was a wind-aided 23 feet 8 inches and only she has jumped farther in 1998.

In the 200, she bolted quickly out of the blocks, took the lead early and kept increasing the margin until 15 meters remained, when she eased up.

Jones burst onto the world scene only a year ago at these championships at Indianapolis by winning the 100 in 10.97 and the long jump at 22-9, beating the great Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

That was a forerunner to her performance at the World Championships at Athens, Greece, where she was the only woman to win two gold medals--in the 100 and 400 relay. She was then voted the outstanding women’s track and field athlete of 1997.

Stella Walsh was the only athlete to sweep the women’s 100, 200 and long jump at the national championships, accomplishing it four times, the first in 1930, the last in 1948.

Carl Lewis won all three men’s events in the USA Championships at Indianapolis in 1983.

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Kenya’s Philip Tarus went from opening act to headliner over the course of the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon at San Diego.

Running the full 26 miles, 385 yards for the first time, the 24-year-old Tarus pulled away from countryman and training partner Christopher Cheboiboch and won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in a respectable 2 hours 10 minutes 42 seconds.

Tarus opened a 20-yard lead over Cheboiboch, 22, who was bothered because of a stomach ailment in his first marathon. Cheboiboch finished in 2:10:53. A third Kenyan also broke 2:11; Jonathan Ndambuki in 2:10:58.

Nadezhda Ilyina, 34, of Russia won the women’s race in 2:34:17, beating rival Irina Bogacheva, 37, by 11 seconds. Salina Chirchir, 29, of Kenya was third in 2:35:17.

But the marathon had some opening-day glitches, most notably the 38-minute delay at the start. The biggest first-time marathon ever --approximately 19,000 started--was held up by police because a portion of the course circling Mission Bay hadn’t been completely closed off to traffic.

Pro Football

J. Bruce Llewellyn, chairman of the board of Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and a cousin of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Colin Powell, said he will make a bid to buy the Minnesota Vikings by a July 1 deadline.

Llewellyn is to meet with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Wednesday and plans to fly to Minneapolis on Thursday to meet with current Viking owners and civic officials, former Viking CEO and co-owner Mike Lynn said.

Llewellyn would provide primary backing for a group that includes Lynn.

Llewellyn announced his intentions through a news release issued Saturday night by a Twin Cities public relations firm.

Llewellyn said he has some “concerns” about the Metrodome, but would keep the team in Minnesota. He said a number of the team’s current owners would remain in his ownership group.

If Llewellyn acquires the Vikings, he would become the first African American to own controlling interest in an NFL team, as well as the only current black majority owner in a major professional sport.

Viking owners put the team back up for sale for at least $200 million after the collapse of author Tom Clancy’s bid last month.

Miscellany

The U.S. men’s national team defeated Yugoslavia, 7-6, in championship match of the Newport Beach Water Polo tournament. Chris Oeding and Jeremy Laster each scored two goals for the U.S. . . . David Vazquez won the men’s event and Anne-Caroline Chausson the women’s competition at the Grundig/UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Big Bear.