Asafa Powell set a world record of 9.74 seconds in the 100 metres at the Rieti Grand Prix meet in Italy. - AP
LONDON (AP):
MARION JONES and Asafa Powell were the biggest names in athletics in 2007 - for very different reasons.
Jones admitted to doping and had all her medals, titles and results erased back to 2000, while Powell again broke the world record in the 100-metre sprint.Jones admitted in court that she took performance-enhancing substances starting at around the time of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she won five medals - three gold and two bronze.
The American won gold in the 100, 200 and 1,600 relay in Sydney, and bronze in the long jump and 400 relay. But after long denying she ever had used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones said in October that she'd used the designer steroid 'the clear' from September 2000 to July 2001.
Stripped of medals
"I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me," Jones said outside the courthouse after pleading guilty to lying to United States (U.S.) government investigators. "I have let (my family) down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally stripped Jones of her five medals earlier this month, wiping her name from the record books, and banned her from attending next year's Beijing Olympics in any capacity.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) earlier erased all of Jones' results dating to September 2000, including her 200 gold medal and 100 silver at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. The IAAF is also pursuing her for US$700,000 in prize money.
Jones is due back in court on January 11 for sentencing.
On the track, Powell again failed to impress at the biggest meet of 2007, finishing a disappointing third in the 100 at the Worlds in Osaka, Japan, behind Athlete of the Year Tyson Gay.
But two weeks after that race, Powell ran a blistering 9.74 seconds in a heat at a meet in Rieti, Italy - even though he eased up at the end. That was still 0.03 seconds faster than the 9.77 that he had run three times.
"Today I ran like I should have done at the Worlds," Powell said at the meet on September 9. "At Osaka, I was too tense, I was thinking about the race and the time I had to set. Instead, here I was relaxed."
Gay wins triple
Gay won both the 100 and 200 at the Worlds and was also a part of the winning 400 relay team.
Bernard Lagat, now running for the U.S., doubled at the Worlds, winning both the 1,500 and the 5,000.
Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who had set several distance running records in his career, set another in the marathon on September 30, running 2:04:26 in Berlin. His time beat the previous record by 29 seconds.
The female Athlete of the Year was Meseret Defar, who set the two-mile world record of 8:58.58 at the Van Damme Memorial on September 14, smashing her own mark by almost 12 seconds. The 23-year-old Defar also set world records in the 5,000 and the indoor 3,000 earlier in the season, and won the 5,000 at the Worlds.
"I don't have words to describe how happy I am," said Defar after getting her award from the IAAF. "This is very special for Ethiopian women. Those who struggle very hard and who don't have very many opportunities to achieve the highest levels of athletics. So I dedicate this award to them."
Pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia set her 20th world record in February, jumping 4.93m indoors, and Lornah Kiplagat won the world cross-country title and also set a world record in the half marathon.
Carolina Kluft won yet another heptathlon title at the Worlds, and Allyson Felix won the 200 by the widest margin since 1948, and also led the U.S. from fourth to first in the 1600 relay with the fastest split since the 1980s.
Paula Radcliffe won the New York Marathon only nine months after giving birth to her daughter, Isla. The Briton, who holds the world record in the event, had been running her first marathon in more than two years.
