| | Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Marion Jones gambled -- then won and lost.
Boldly predicting she could become the first track and field
athlete to win five gold medals at a single Olympics, Jones' drive
for five left her with three golds and two bronzes.
|  | | Marion Jones dominated in winning the 100 meters at the Olympics in 10.75 seconds.
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The five medals represented a first for a female track and field
athlete at one games, and for that accomplishment Jones was chosen
Wednesday as The Associated Press' Female Athlete of the Year.
In balloting by sportswriters and broadcasters, Jones received
27 first-place votes and 112 points, beating tennis star Venus
Williams, runner-up with 16½ firsts and 104½ points. Golfer Karrie
Webb was a distant third with 30 points. Points were awarded on a
3-2-1 basis.
The winner last year, the U.S. soccer team, didn't receive any
votes this time.
The confident Jones was the 10th female track and field athlete
to win the honor since the award was inaugurated in 1931, and the
first since the late Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988.
Jones' golds came in the 100 and 200 meters and the 1,600 relay,
the bronzes in the long jump and 400 relay.
Those bronzes could have been golds, Jones said.
"That gold medal was there for the taking in the long jump,"
she said. "And in the (400) relay, we had some injuries (Gail
Devers and Inger Miller). We didn't have our best horses.
"I guess everybody wants to win the lottery. You just don't
want to win the $2 ticket. I wanted to win them all, and I still
think it's possible. But I didn't, so I'm not going to dwell on
that.
"I didn't get everything I wanted, but I didn't give in. I can
live with that."
Her prediction, made two years before the Sydney Games, earned
Jones a lot of publicity, something she will avoid for the 2004
Olympics.
"I've vowed not to make a prediction such as the five golds,
especially not four years prior to the next games," said the
24-year-old Jones. "But whatever I choose to do, I'll try and make
it as extraordinary as possible."
Jones' gold-medal performances in Sydney were extraordinary,
considering she was mentally distracted by the IAAF's confirmation
that her husband, C.J. Hunter, the 1999 world shot put champion,
had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone four times after the
U.S. Olympic trials. The disclosure came after Jones' first event,
the 100, meaning she had to compete in four events with that
burden.
"It was very unfortunate timing," she said.
Jones' timing on the track was impeccable.
She won the 100 at 10.75 seconds, and her victory margin of 0.37
seconds was the second largest in Olympic history, man or woman.
She won the 200 at 21.84, and her victory margin of 0.43 seconds
was the second largest behind Wilma Rudolph's in 1960. Her 100 and
200 times were the fastest in the world this year.
Jones helped the 1,600 relay team to victory at 3:22.62 with a
powerful third leg of 49.4, the same as Australia's Cathy Freeman,
the 400 gold medalist. No one else came close to running that fast.
Even more remarkable for Jones, she ran only one other individual
400 race during the year and had not run on a 1,600 relay since she
was a sophomore at North Carolina. The 400 is a distance she
dislikes.
"I don't like how I feel after it because I like to be in
control of my body, and in that last stretch, you have no control
of your body," she said.
Overall, the durable Jones competed 12 times in nine days at the
games -- four rounds of the 100, four rounds of the 200, a long jump
qualifying round and the final, the anchor leg of the 400 relay
final and the 1,600 relay final.
During the year, she also had the six fastest times and eight of
the best nine in the 100; the two fastest in the world in the 200;
the best long jump by an American and fourth-best in the world, 23
feet, one-half inch; the fastest individual 400 by an American and
fifth-fastest in the world, 49.59; ran on the world's fastest
1,600-meter relay team; and anchored a U.S. team to a world record
of 1:27.46 in the 800-meter relay.
Williams also starred at the Olympics. She won the women's
singles title and teamed with sister Serena to win the doubles
championship. Venus also had a 35-match winning streak during the
year that included Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
To cap her year, she signed a five-year contract for a reported
$40 million with Reebok, the richest endorsement deal for a female
athlete.
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ALSO SEE
AP Female Athlete of the Year votes
Marion Jones takes honors as Reuters' sportswoman of the year
Another win for Tiger: AP Male Athlete of Year
AP Male Athlete of the Year votes
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