Originally written on October 7, 2007:

Before I had cancelled my first MySpace account, I wrote a strong and preemptive piece on Marion Jones and what has now culminated in a public statement from Jones about her dishonorable abuse of performance-enhancing drugs. Basically, she cheated and the whole world could witness the shame of this once star-studded athlete destroy her chances of ever being a legend.

What I had previously stated in a blog now gone and deleted was that if you really wanted to know if Jones was involved with BALCO and steroids, as is already evident, is by following the trails of "bread crumbs" left by her former husband and steroid user C.J. Hunter, who was an Olympic shot putter, as well as Tim Montgomery whom Jones had a young son with, though they did not marry.

Jones will be stripped of her medals, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) seeks to do this as quickly and as effectively as possible. The IOC does not play games or stall on illegal drug enforcement. They bring the hammer on anyone and it just doesn't matter who. In fact, Michael Johnson had to forfeit a gold medal won as he anchored a 4x100 relay with Tim Montgomery, because at the time Montgomery had cheated and this indelibly affected the performance of the relay team. So, in the same manner, teammates of Marion Jones at the 2000 Sydney Games will also consequently be stripped of their medals. Ain't that a....!

So, in conclusion, with all of the hub-bub about Marion Jones and her now open secret of abusing steroids like EPO and others, not flaxseed oil or some balm, we in the track and field world will pay for her mistake and others like Montgomery and Ben Johnson. They have tainted the image of the sport and every talented and starry-eyed athlete that breaks a world record or runs a certain time before not reached will be questioned and forever skepticized by those who do not really appreciate this sport -- the most original of all sports in its essence.

I love track and field, and this is why I'm a coach. But, however, much I love it, I will always have a nagging thought in the back of my mind now when I watch Asafa Powell blaze across the finish line, or see Yelena Isibinyeva soar over the vaulting bar, or hear the pounding strides of Tatyana Lebedeva as she seeks to defy the odds as a phenomenal triple and long jumper.

Jones has once again reopened the wounds left by Justin Gatlin and scores of coaches and athletes too greedy to play and run the sport honestly. Out...