Jones Has Her Thing Going On

By MIKE PENNER

July 17, 2000 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO — There was a crisis going on around the long-jump pit at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials Sunday, and it had nothing to do with Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s failure to break into the top three.

No, this was a dilemma of potential global implications, a predicament that should have been accompanied by an urgent public-address announcement:

NBC, Nike, USA Track and Field, Algonquin Books and Vector Sports Management, Ltd., we have a problem.

Marion Jones was one miserable jump from not making the U.S. Olympic women’s long-jump team. As Jones the basketball player might have summed up the situation: She’d committed two fouls and there were no more to give. One more stomp on the board, or one legal jump of less than 20 feet 10 inches, and Jones’ ballyhooed quest for five gold medals in Sydney would have blown up two months before the opening ceremony.

Drive for Five?

One more misstep and that multimillion dollar promotional campaign was going to go the way of 1992’s infamous Dan and Dave Show, which became the Dave Without Dan Show when Dan O’Brien failed to qualify along with Dave Johnson for berths on the U.S. Olympic decathlon team.

“I was quite concerned,” Jones acknowledged, and she wasn’t alone. With so much riding on one jump, conspiracy theories coursed through the press box. If Jones fouled again, would the long-jump judge lay down his flag and announce he was abstaining?

One more sprint down the runway. This time, the red flag stayed down, Jones’ heels sprayed sand after sailing above 22 feet of earth . . . and an NBC September prime-time miniseries had been saved, along with sales of the Marion Jones biography, sales of Nike footwear and the sale of the sport of track and field to the general American public.

Jones’ first legal jump, covering 22 feet 1 3/4 inches, enabled her to make the cut and advance to the final eight. There, she was able to breathe again, and two jumps later, she leaped 23-0 1/2--good enough not only for an Olympic berth, but also the championship of this competition.

Dawn Burrell, the leader after four rounds, took second place with a best mark of 22-10 1/2. Shana Williams completed the Olympic long-jump team with a mark of 22-6 1/2. Joyner-Kersee, bidding to compete in her fifth Olympics, finished sixth at 21-10 3/4.

On a day when both the men’s pole vault and women’s high jump competitions went to jump-offs, the most suspenseful jump-off was Jones’ ongoing long-jump struggle against herself.

The long jump is easily the hitch in Jones’ repertoire. She is the best female 100- and 200-meter sprinter in the world and she figures to be a key component in both the U.S. Olympic women’s 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. But Jones is no natural when it comes to the long jump, and if her five-gold-medal campaign was going to hit any pothole along the way, it figured to be here.

“I’m relieved,” said Jones, whose winning jump was her first competitive 23-foot effort of the year. “I knew I had one long jump in me. Finally, I hit that 23-foot plateau. I’m excited to be going to Sydney.”

Jones pushed it to the limit by fouling on the first two of her three qualifying jumps. After the second foul, she looked to the stands, where she found inspiration and encouragement from her husband, shotputter C.J. Hunter, and her coach, Trevor Graham.

“Don’t hit the board!” they yelled at Jones.

No kidding. That much, Jones already knew.

But it was the way in which they said it that was important, Graham said.

“I said it with an excited tone of voice,” Graham said. “Not like I was scared. I told her, ‘You’re doing great! Just do what you’ve been doing, but don’t hit the board!’ ”

Graham smiled and shook his head.

“She hits the board a lot,” he said.

Jones also received assistance from Joyner-Kersee, something of a surprise in that Joyner-Kersee was struggling mightily with her own Olympic qualification campaign.

“I told her, ‘Get in there!’ ” Joyner-Kersee said. “I said, ‘It’s there, you can go over 23 feet, but you have to keep it legal.’ She’s clearly the best women’s athlete in the world and, to me, it would have been devastating if she didn’t make the team. Even if it meant I wasn’t going.”

Joyner-Kersee never cut it that close. Her best jump was her third, but after feeling a twinge in her hamstring on her fourth jump, Joyner-Kersee decided to pass on her fifth attempt and devote all her remaining energy to her final jump. When she fouled on that effort, Joyner-Kersee’s own drive for five was over.

“I can’t be disappointed,” said Joyner-Kersee, 38. “I have been to four Olympics. This was a longshot. I thought I could get it together, but this was really a longshot.”

Bob Kersee, Jackie’s husband and longtime coach, said it was time to call it a day.

“I’m glad her career is over,” Kersee said with a laugh. “Because I’m tired.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Olympic Trials Finals

Top three finishers in events qualify for the United States’ 2000 Summer Olympic team:

MEN’S 400

1. Michael Johnson43.68 seconds

2. Alvin Harrison: 44.63

3. Antonio Pettigrew: 44.66

1,500 MEN

1. Gabe Jennings: 3:35.90

2. Jason Pyrah: 3:36.70