Marion Jones Finally Admits to Family she took steroids before the 2000 Sydney Olympics

      

                                                                Marion Jones finally admits she took steroids before the 2000 Sydney Olympics according to media reports.  Jones should win an Oscar  for best actress  because she definitely has the talent to “pretend” to tell the truth. Jones numerous  animated press conferences and  vigilance to clear her name is proof  she can definitely act for the cameras.  However, this is not a surprise I have said for years I thought Jones was on steroids and cheated at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She just looked too super human in my eyes her shoulders were so broad she looked so masculine like a man. I felt the other women athletes were at a disadvantage when they ran against her.

                The question I am wondering about is how long did the USA Track and Field Association know about Marion Jones steroid use? I personally believe the USA Track and Field Association covered for Marion Jones. America is all about winning gold medals they care very deeply about that unlike Canada. The Canadian Track and Field Association would never cover for a cheating athlete but in the USA gold medals and high performance at the Olympic games and other international competitions is a big deal.

                   Why is Jones suddenly speaking the truth now? And how long did the USA Track and Field Association know about Jones cheating? I bet the USA Track and Field Association knew for the past seven years. I mean in the last couple of years Kellie White got caught, Justin Gatlin the  Olympic  champion admitted a failed drug test and now Marion Jones. The USA Track and Field Association it seems to me has a lot of corruption and cheating taking place. I guess in the USA athletes cheating is just not a big deal unlike other countries. Its time the USA Track and Field Association be called out.

                 In the year 2000 Marion Jones won the Associated press female athlete of the year award even though I personally believe the great Venus Williams was robbed of that award. Jones did win five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics three of them were gold. Venus Williams won double gold for tennis  at the Sydney Olympics in singles and doubles but  Venus also had a 36 match winning streak winning six events in a row including winning  Wimbledon and US OPEN championships that year. I personally believed Venus deserved the top honor as Associated Press female athlete of the year and not Jones.  I guess because Jones career is just about over she felt the need to come clean. I really do hope Jones is stripped of her five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I say fair is fair.

         Also tennis players are tested randomly all the time.  I recall reading an article a few years back about the Swiss tennis champion Martina Hingis. Hingis said drug testers knocked on her door early in the morning in Switzerland telling her she had to give a random sample for a drug test. Tennis players are randomly tested  all  the time on the court and off the court. Drug cheating in tennis is serious business unlike other high performance sports. In tennis cheaters will be caught.  A few years ago in 2005 the Argentine male tennis player Mariano Puerta got caught with steroid use after testing was conducted after the 2005 French Open. Puerta not surprisingly reached the French Open finals that year before losing to Rafael Nadal. Another Argentine tennis player Guillermo Canas was also caught but Canas is now back on the ATP Tour.

    I felt  Marion Jones so called “golden victory” was tainted from the start. Let me explain.  I told family and friends during dinner discussions that I felt Marion Jones was on steroids.  I got cursed out, laughed at, and some people just called me a straight up hater. But Marion Jones wasn’t fooling me she simply looked too “masculine” her physique and build was not that of a high performance female athlete her build simply looked too manly. And no I am not saying just because Jones had “muscles” that I thought she was cheating. You could tell by how broad Jones shoulders were and how flat chested she was she was on some kind of steroid she simply looked so masculine and super strong.

        Yes I know female track and field stars have to be in incredible physical shape. Notice the great  American track star Gail Devers has never had any suspicion or drama of steroid use. Gail Devers is a great American female Olympic champion and Gail has some muscle on her body because she’s a high performance athlete. However, Gail Devers  never looked like like Marion Jones. Jones looked like a cheater to me. 

       Around 2000 the USA media defended  Marion Jones  even when  her first ex husband the hammer thrower CJ Hunter got caught with steroid use at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I told friends the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The media actually defended Jones even though the guy was her husband. You’re trying to tell me Marion Jones didn’t know her first husband didn’t use steroids. And guess what else is interesting? A few years back Jones second man Tim Montgomery he also got caught with steroids I mean if anyone didn’t think she wasn’t on steroids the truth is out now.

         Now that Jones career is just about over she told the truth. Jones was very theatrical and animated when the press accused her of steroid use I just felt she was lying all this time. 

          I remember back  in the 1980s when I was kid and the whole Ben Johnson steroid drama was going on and the USA media was so excited because the Canadian press went hard after Johnson. And then Flo Jo suddenly dies in the 1990s. Slowly but surely the USA track federation had to admit that steroid use was also rampant in their ranks as well.  The microscope is on America the question is will the USA Track and Field Association clean up its act or not?

               Floyd Landis the 2006 Tour De France champion he lied about steroid usage as well. Why do these top athletes never think anyone will find out? Well Landis was recently stripped of his 2006 Tour De France title. I think Marion Jones should be stripped of all her Olympic medals. I doubt it will happen but that’s my personal opinion. Apparently Jones was on the “clear” and that’s what I told family and friends in 2000 I had a thought she must of been on the “clear.” The clear is a steroid that is pretty hard to detect. I think its clear the drug testing is obsolete and needs to be improved.

         Its so disconcerting that Jones took so long to admit the obvious truth. Its sad it really is this fall from grace for Marion Jones. Jones has so many fans so many people that were rooting for her because she was their hero.  I don’t want to say Jones is a disgrace because it seems to me so many athletes in track and field are using steroids.  Marion Jones is not a disgrace its just disgraceful that she took so long to come clean. A few years back Kellie White another  American female track and field star she admitted she used steroids. Why didn’t Jones admit the truth back then? Why did Jones wait until now?

          I remember Marion Jones was so adamant in press conferences saying the media was trying to tear her down and destroy her career. And I could just feel she was lying. Its hard to have  sympathy for Marion Jones because I remember how she was so “certain” in the press conferences she was going after the media saying they were trying to ruin her.  I think its really sad for all those young girls that looked up to Marion Jones.

        I recall people making crude disgusting comments about the Williams Sisters when  they were on top of the WTA saying they were on steroids. The thing is in women’s tennis the drug testing occurs so often cheaters will be be caught. The Williams Sisters should of been the toast of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Venus deserved that 2000 Associated Press female athlete of the year award and not Marion Jones.

           Unlike Canada, countries such as the United States give big payouts to athletes that achieve at the Olympic games and major championship events. I think the USA track and field Association knew about Marion Jones steroid use I honestly do. For years the USA Track and Field Association has been under fire by the international media and the IOC.  I find it very hard to believe the USA Track and Field Association did not know about Marion Jones steroid use.

         Also Canada is very serious about cracking down on cheaters in sports. In Canada there isn’t much financial incentive for sports athletes here unless they are hockey stars. Unlike Canada though in America if an American athlete wins a gold medal they can expect to become a superstar in the USA and earn millions  of dollars in endorsements. Even Canadians that win gold medals don’t expect to get rich. Canada just doesn’t place a lot of emphasis on sports except hockey.  In Canada its still very hard for high performance athletes to become “rich” from endorsements. The Canadian Olympic Association also hasn’t done a great job in developing top athletes in Canada. So many Canadian athletes have to train in foreign countries because the Canadian system just isn’t very helpful at all.

        I think its time the authorities go after Lance Armstrong I definitely think he was on steroids. The French newspaper L’Equipe has gone after Armstrong for years and finally Floyd Landis got caught. Armstrong of course naturally defended Landis in the press. Armstrong’s incredible seven Tour De France victories look very suspicious to me. I doubt Armstrong will ever do what Marion Jones did and admit the truth. I think that’s the only “good” thing to come out of this that at least Jones had the dignity to admit she was wrong and she lied. I mean most athletes never do that ever. 

            For instance, the recent female World Cup the USA women’s team although they won the bronze medal each woman will collect an additional $10,000 bonus on top of their salary. At the Olympics  America is one of the countries that gives a big payout for athletes that win gold medals so it is tempting to cheat.

       Maybe the Olympics, World Championships, and other high profile events should just allow athletes to use steroids? I mean it seems like all the top athletes are on something. Nobody is clean anymore. And even the athletes that “claim” to be clean like Lance Armstrong are suspicious. It seems to me in high profile sport the temptation for success and money is so great the top athletes just feel the urge to cheat or else they will be left in last place. The sports culture rewards champions not the losers in the last place. Maybe society is to blame too? Maybe we are all at fault? I mean why is the gold medalist treated so much better then silver or the bronze medalist? Aren’t they all winners just by reaching the podium?

  I just believe in high performance sport like Track and Field so many people are cheating its like not a surprise at all. The demands of the sport and the temptation is there. I am not an athlete so I don’t understand the incredible pressure they are under.I mean if everyone else is cheating and “you” want to stay on top I guess for some athletes they feel they have to “cheat”. You do kind of wonder is anyone “clean” in Track and Field these days?

 Here is the link to the article:  http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-jones-dopingrun&prov=ap&type=lgns

Article on Justin Gatlin admits failed drug test:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/5227956.stm

Isaiah Washington guest starring on The Bionic Woman on NBC On Wednesday Night

 

             It was so exciting last night to finally see the great actor Isaiah Washington back on prime time TV. Isaiah will be guest starring on a few episodes of the new NBC show “The Bionic Woman.” The program airs on Wednesday night. I definitely felt the second episode was much better then the first. Since Isaiah is such a  gifted and talented actor the show is just so much more interesting with him on. The show definitely  picks up a notch. Its nice to see Isaiah bounce back so quickly after the drama with the previous show he was on.

      On some white gay internet message boards the white gay mafia “still” yes they “still” are complaining about Isaiah Washington.  I guess they just can’t let it go? Isaiah’s moved on from the previous TV show so why can’t they? See, this is where the hypocrisy of the white gay community and their blatant anti black racism is so pernicious and obvious.  I question their “motivation” and their “anger” about Washington still. Why don’t the  white gay mafia just  be honest they have their own anti black prejudices and biases and they are unleashing their own bigotry.  The white gay mafia had their opportunity and seized it. They wanted to stereotype black people as being anti gay. Yes there is homophobia in the black community just like there is homophobia in the white community and other communities as well.  Yet why can’t some white gays just admit they are anti black?

     Thank goodness Isaiah has bounced back so quickly he’s a talented actor and talent will always rise to the top. I commend NBC for giving Isaiah a second chance even though I do think it was a bit of stunt casting.  Its nice to see Isaiah back on TV even if its just for a short while. NBC obviously wants people to watch their new program and hiring Washington jacked up the controversy and also created free publicity for the show. It was a win win situation for NBC and Washington.

     I understand some white gay people are “angry” and “upset” at Isaiah for using the gay slur.  However, would the white gay mafia really “care” if TR Knight wasn’t white? Would the white gays really be this angry if Isaiah wasn’t a black man? Lets, he honest here, race was indeed a factor here and to suggest otherwise is to be lying. Race is the third person in the room just because you don’t mention race in this saga doesn’t mean race was not a factor. If TR Knight was a black gay man I doubt the white gay mafia would “invest” so much of their “energies” and “power” to have Isaiah removed from Grey’s Anatomy. I doubt very much there would be this “uproar.” Isaiah was wrong for making the gay slur that was obviously totally unacceptable and out of line. However, how many times is Isaiah supposed to apologize? Why don’t some of the white gays just admit there is a vein of racism laced with the so called “anger”?

        Next, white people will say blacks play the “race card” and yet there was no balance in the reporting this summer about the whole Isaiah Washington drama.  Yet some white people never admit they play the “white card” very well.   The “white card” attempts to circumvent and diminish the interlocking systems of racism.  Being white in North America immediately means you have social power.  The “white card” also ignores  the currency of white skin privilege. Race still matters and  covert racism indeed exists. The mainstream media used covert racist tactics to paint the unbalanced view that Isaiah Washington was the stereotypical angry black man.

      I thought Isaiah handled himself very well during the whole drama and I commend him for his personal strength.  The disgusting negative articles I read was drenched in bigotry and prejudice. The mainstream attempted to humiliate and destroy Isaiah Washington but they failed. Isaiah Washington is a good black man and I wish him well. The way the mainstream and white gay media were acting as though the sky was falling and the world was ending. Its like give me a break.

          Yet why couldn’t the mainstream media look at all sides of the story? I also was a bit dissapointed in the black media. The black heterosexual media ignored the incident all together perhaps because they “feared” the anger of whites or maybe because they just didn’t want to deal with the drama. Not one media outlet examined the other side to the story and that’s the pernicious anti black racism of the white gay community.  Why the double standard? Why is the racism of the white gay community consistently ignored?

    Certain white gay media outlets indeed have an anti black agenda and they are deleterious. Although the “mask” of certain white gay media outlets is that they are “fighting” homophobia they are also spreading their own racist anti black prejudices  in the print, on TV, and on the web. Can we be real for five minutes? “The Dallas Voice”, “Afterelton.com”,  “The Washington Blade” “Advocate”, “Out Magazine” are a part of the white gay mafia.  I can go on forever but you get the point. All these white gay media outlets and more  are perfect examples of not only white gay racism but also of their own hypocrisy.  They target and go after any black entertainer that says something they don’t agree with.

       Some people don’t realize despite the white gay community complaining about how hard they got it dealing with homophobia they do indeed have a lot of power.   White gays have white skin privilege and white power and that goes a long way in North America.

             I’ve been to a few of these white gay internet message boards and I’ve read the racist anti black comments so easily tossed around and of course the moderators of “these” white gay websites don’t “moderate” the  racist comments. Its incidents like this that just prove again the white gay community cannot be taken seriously at all.  It also should be wake-up call for black people gay and straight. I think its the job of black gays and lesbians to let black heterosexual people know that we also endure racism in our own lives. I cannot separate being black and gay yet the white gay community consistently wants black gays to choose sides.

        Its also times like this where “white skin privilege”, ” white social power”, and  “white gay economic power” need to be examined. Although organizations like GLAAD claim to be “fighting” for “gay rights” that group needs to be honest the only “rights” they care about are the ones that affect white gay people.  Also, I’ve been to some mainstream gay political websites and they aren’t fighting for the rights of black gay people that’s for sure. Just because GLAAD has a few token black gays on their payroll does not mean GLAAD is not a white gay organization because it is. 

       I also question why some black gay people still “think” white gay organizations like GLAAD  are relevant for our rights? The infrastructure of the mainstream gay community is too Eurocentric focused and I personally believe its a waste of time for black gays to attempt to form “dialogues” with organizations such as GLAAD.  I believe for black gay emancipation we have to do our own thing. Stop worrying about the white man and help ourselves. GLAAD has their own agenda let them do their thing. However, white gay organizations such as GLAAD are just illustrating their own true racist colours.

      Honestly, GLAAD is a pathetic group these days their importance and validity has been tainted by the trouble they caused Isaiah Washington while ignoring the racism of Rosie O Donnell’s Anti Asian racist comments when she was on “The View”. ABC didn’t seem to care about Rosie’s racist comments either when she was an employee of that network. Double standards for blacks and whites thrive at ABC that’s for sure.

      Its ludicrous that they are “still” going after Isaiah Washington  yet losers like Senator Larry Craig are on the loose.  Why don’t they complain about closeted homophobic white gay men such as Ted Haggard. Remember Haggard is the white closeted homosexual minister that has over 30 million followers? Haggard was exposed for being a hypocrite that  solicited the services of a male prostitute.  

        Closeted powerful white gay republicans should be the focus of the white gay mafia’s “agenda.”  How does tearing down Isaiah Washington uplift the gay community? I also don’t believe there is just “one” monolithic gay community I believe there are several communities.

 Another problem is the representation of gays in the mainstream still equals whiteness. Being gay in the mainstream means being white. It also means white gays have the “platform”  in the mainstream media as the “faces” of the gay community. However, where does that leave gay people of colour? Why weren’t black gay organizations consulted when all the drama was taking place? 

            The white gay community definitely does not speak for me that’s for sure.  And this of course displaces gay people of colour. Black gay voices were muted during the whole Isaiah Washington drama. Thank goodness for the internet. The internet is an important tool for an alternative perspective to exist. I don’t follow what the white gay community says I think for myself and march to my own beat. I am cognizant of the undercurrent of racism in the gay community. And anyone that doesn’t think this kind of racism is not real needs to wake up. The Isaiah Washington incident wasn’t just about the gay slur it was also about power dynamics and also about how the mainstream still treats black people gay and straight as the other.

 In my mind the white gay community’s constant attacks on Isaiah Washington exposes their own hypocrisy and racism it definitely doesn’t endear them to me that’s for sure.  However, it does expose the honest truth that there is a racial divide in the so called “gay community”. Anybody that doesn’t think race is not a factor here needs to enter the real world. Race always matters.

       Black  men don’t have the social or political power of white gay males  in North America. However, powerful white males like Larry Craig do have the ability to create  and enforce anti gay laws. 

       For people that don’t know Senator Larry Craig is an anti gay bigot that was caught this summer at  an airport washroom using “hand signals”  to gain the attention of a man he wanted to have sex with. The trouble for Craig was the man he wanted to have sex with was an undercover police officer. The undercover police officer arrested Craig and now Craig is trying to backpedal from the guilty plea.

              I commend all the black gay activists that stood up and spoke out about the hypocrisy and bigotry of white gay America. Isaiah has paid his dues and I’m watching the Bionic Woman because he’s on it. If Isaiah was not on this show I wouldn’t watch and that’s the truth. Isaiah will only be on for about a few episodes. And judging from last night’s program he definitely makes this show so much more exciting.

Here is a link to an article about Isaiah discussing the show.  http://www.nypost.com/seven/09302007/tv/isaiah_rising.htm