Jones Among Big Names Set for Home Depot Meet

“See Athens Before It Happens” is the pitch organizers are using to try to drum up interest in Saturday’s Home Depot Track and Field Invitational.

See Athens before it happens?

Well, all right, construction workers have been milling around the track this week, trying to beat a deadline and get a stadium ready in time for a track meet. Just like Athens.

Some of the top names in American track and field -- Marion Jones, Maurice Greene, Gail Devers, John Godina -- are scheduled to compete in Carson, hoping for a performance that moves them closer to an eventual appearance at the Summer Olympics in Athens in August.

And Saturday’s meet, set to begin at noon, will go off under a bright sun, a blue sky and an ominous cloud known as BALCO, the same conditions expected at professional track events from here to Athens.

Wednesday, U.S. sprinter Kelli White became the latest casualty in the BALCO steroids case, accepting a two-year suspension after admitting having used performance-enhancing drugs.

Jones, scheduled to compete in the 100-meter sprint and long jump Saturday, has been linked to the BALCO case, although she has denied usage of banned substances and has threatened to sue the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency if she were to be banned from the Summer Olympics without proof of a positive drug test.

These are not the best circumstances under which to promote a track meet in Los Angeles, especially with the Lakers in the Western Conference finals, the Dodgers and Angels in first place and the CIF Southern Section high school track championships happening the same day in nearby Cerritos.

Still, organizers are confident of a crowd of more than 10,000 for the second Home Depot Invitational. The inaugural invitational, the Home Depot Center’s debut event in 2003, drew 10,094.

“Fans haven’t called us and said, ‘We’re not coming because of BALCO,’ ” said Bill Peterson, Home Depot Center managing director. “I would sense that the average fan, who’s probably keeping an eye on the BALCO issue, is more interested in how the athletes are going to perform. And it will be unfortunate if [the investigation] does uncover anything that’s negative.”

Meet director Rich Perelman said the BALCO case was “not something we can do much about. We can debate whether this athlete or that athlete is clean or not clean, good, bad, indifferent.

“The fact of the matter is, Maurice Greene, Marion Jones and Gail Devers, among others, are going to line up on that line down there. If you want to see them -- and none of them are in their youth anymore, they’re all moving right along in their careers -- if you want to see them, up close and personal, you’ve got to come out and take a look.”

Perelman said the BALCO case has had “zero” impact on the field he and the meet’s elite athlete coordinator, Bruce Tenen, were able to assemble.

“USA Track and Field sent out a note, which we agree with: If you’re eligible, you’re eligible,” Perelman said.

Tenen said he hadn’t let media speculation influence his recruitment of athletes for the 22-event competition.

“There are so few people that are ineligible by the USATF rules,” he said. “And there’s only a couple that I would have invited anyway that I can’t invite. But basically, anyone that a reporter says is on drugs, I don’t pay attention to. If the USATF says they’re eligible by the USATF rules, I invite them. That’s all.”

Organizers concede that the timing of the meet could have been better, with hundreds of potentially interested spectators competing the same day at the high school championships down the freeway. The decision to go head to head with the high schoolers was made when NBC offered a deal meet officials believed they could not refuse: two hours of live national television coverage.

According to Perelman, three meets -- the Home Depot Invitational, the Payton Jordan U.S. Open in Palo Alto and the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. -- were all initially vying for the June 19 date on the Golden Spikes track tour schedule.

“That is the last possible date prior to the U.S. [Olympic] trials,” Perelman said. “That’s where you get the best marks. All of the track people, at the end of the day, we want the best marks.

“Well, NBC said, ‘Look, we’re going to do at least two hours live on May 22. So if one of you wants May 22, you know, you’ll be on national TV.’ ”

Invitational officials grabbed the May 22 date, although Peterson acknowledged that the conflict with the high school meet was “unfortunate.”

He added, “But we’re trying to take a long view of this and the opportunity to have it on NBC and to develop the event and grow it and add more events, more prize money -- that was all part of our long-term strategy.”

Peterson said he expected to lose some spectators because of the conflict but hoped those in attendance would see the meet as a respite from the doping controversy surrounding the sport as it readies for the Olympics.

“It’s a shame that that’s the daily headline,” he said, “instead of what’s happening in track and field in an Olympic year -- what athletes are really performing well, which ones we should be watching in preparation for Athens.

“That’s why I think this meet is so big. It gives the sport a chance to put BALCO behind it, at least for a day or two, and focus on getting ready for Athens and how strong the U.S. team is going to be.”