MJ versus MJ By MIKE HURST Sydney Telegraph
Posted by Steve Bennett www.oztrack.com >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Michael Johnson declared war on Marion Jones yesterday. MJ versus MJ. The king of the Olympic track versus the queen of the track. There hasn't been anything like it in athletics since, well, the 200m and 400m world record-holder Johnson went at it with the (now former) 100m world record-holder Maurice Greene in early 2000. But Johnson never threw the low blows at Greene which he landed yesterday on Marion and her boyfriend the new 100m world record-holder Tim Montgomery. In his occasional column for London's Johnson took issue with five-time Sydney Olympics medallist Jones and Montgomery choosing Charlie Francis as their consultant. Francis coached a former 100m world record-holder, Ben Johnson, whose record 9.79sec was quashed after he failed a drug test at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. His previous record of 9.83sec was invalidated in 1989 after Francis and, eventually Johnson, confessed under oath at Canada's Dubin Inquiry to using steroids when that one was set in 1987. ``I am shocked by her [Jones'] choice of Francis but not at all surprised by her continued lack of concern for her own reputation,'' Johnson wrote, in part. ``I don't think Marion makes very good decisions, and she lacks the support of people able to help her make good decisions.'' He got that much right in this case if he's referring to the lawyers and Nike image-makers who should have been fighting for the world's fastest couple to get what they so clearly wanted. ``Some examples of Marion's poor decision-making last year?'' Johnson continued. ``Throughout the season she said she had learnt not to take her opposition for granted [as a result of losing her world title in the 100m in 2001] yet last summer she took a trip home to the US from Europe for three days `to sleep in her own bed' during the week between the Brussels and Berlin Golden League meets, knowing she would face Zhanna Block who took her 100m title and had pushed her to the wire the previous week in Brussels.'' Johnson always bridled at media criticism of him as an athlete, but now that he is a TV commentator and newspaper columnist he needs to do his homework before criticising others. In fact, without fanfare, Jones slipped home to the US to take care of the affairs of her father who had been murdered. Good one, Michael. He went on to encourage the Golden League promoters to collude in a clearly unlawful, improper and actionable exercise against Jones and Montgomery's rights to earn a living. ``I am now hearing the Golden League meet promoters are considering not inviting Marion and Tim to their meetings because of their association with Francis,'' writes Johnson. ``...I hope the Golden League promoters stick to their guns and do not give in to any pressure from any source. ``These promoters have lived through and suffered from the black eye that Francis inflicted on athletics with his role in the Ben Johnson scandal which the sport has still not recovered from 15 years later.'' Was Ben Johnson the only sportsperson with a coach among the thousands who been doping, many of whom have tested positive over the last 15 years? What about the East Germans, the Russians, the Chinese and even some American and British stars who have been doping? Francis had nothing to do with any of them. He had also stopped coaching Ben in 1988, yet Ben failed another test at the end of 1992 and was banned for life. Why has Michael Johnson reserved for Jones the special kind of invective he usually saves for Greene? It has long been rumoured Johnson felt unhappy that Nike's poster-girl received the plums he felt he deserved. Perhaps the attitude displayed in his column goes a long way to explaining why he did not receive those plums.
