20 medals worst US showing in Olympic history

By Barbara Huebner, Globe Staff, 10/1/2000

SYDNEY -- For USA Track & Field, the past few weeks have not been fun and Games. What began as the glorious Olympics of media darling Marion Jones ended with the United States earning just 20 medals, the fewest since the Games began in 1896, amid charges of drug coverups past and present that hit close to the heart of Jones herself.

John Chaplin, head coach of the US men's team, denied the athletes were distracted by the persistent drug news, including charges that USATF covered up the positive test for a performance-enhancing drug of C.J. Hunter, Jones's husband, and up to 15 other athletes. Calling the athletes "single-focus" during the Games, he said, the decline in medals can rather be attributed to the burgeoning parity of other nations.

"It's real simple," said Chaplin Sunday night, as the closing ceremony got under way. "The rest of the world is catching up."

Unless the government, or, far preferably, corporate America steps up to financially support more athletes so they can train full-time, Chaplin said, "it's going to be a disaster. It's going to get worse and worse. We can talk about it the next Olympics and the Olympics after that and the Olympics after that."

In the year he has remaining in his tenure with USATF, Chaplin said, he plans to "go out and do as much as I can to bring the problem to the forefront, while the issue is hot."

Karen Dennis, the US women's coach, offered a different take, citing the relative youth of the US team due in part to the loss of hurdler Gail Devers, sprinter Inger Miller, and 1,500-meter runner Regina Jacobs to injury. Among them, the women were likely to earn four medals.

"In the past, we have had people who had years and years of experience in the sport," she said. "We just didn't have that. You can't expect the youth to perform as well as the veterans."

Among those who have retired since 1996 are Carl Lewis, a nine-time medalist, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who won six. In addition, Hunter was a strong medal contender in the shot put before withdrawing before the Games began after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, and Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene would have been favorites in the 200 had they not bombed out with injuries at the US trials.

One Olympic newcomer who performed superbly was Jones, despite falling short in her drive for five golds. Her three in the 100, 200, and 4x400 meter relay, plus her two bronze medals in the long jump and 4x100 relay, gave her the most medals in one Olympics for a woman in track and field history.

"I still feel in my heart that I had a chance to win the long jump," Jones said, sounding disappointed. "But overall, it was a very successful Games for me, and very challenging. I'll just be glad when I get home and go on vacation."

For pure grandeur, no moment in the track competition can surpass Cathy Freeman's victory in the 400-meter dash. Ten days after lighting the cauldron in the opening ceremonies, and running with expectations of all Australia in tow, Freeman's dash down the homestretch so electrified the crowd of 112,000 that its roar could be felt in the pit of every stomach. The long minutes she then spent sitting on the track, expressionless, gulping in the enormity of what she had just done, were riveting in their humanity.

There weren't, however, many great races. Jones, Johnson, Greene, and Freeman all won easily, and they were supposed to. Two of the best -- regardless of their lack of respect in America, the land of attention-span deficit -- were the men's and women's 10,000-meter races, both won by Ethiopians and both worth etching into the archives of the soul. First, Haile Gebrselassie shocked Paul Tergat by .09 seconds at the line, then Derartu Tulu led the first six women in the field under the old Olympic record. It was a race in which Elana Meyer, who finished second to Tulu for the silver medal in Barcelona, ran only two seconds slower here but finished eighth.

For the first time in 1948, there were no world records set. Whether because of the cooler weather (sprinters like it hot), the wind in the stadium, or anti-doping programs that may actually be starting to work, the running has been slower and the throwing shorter.

Perhaps the most-lasting legacy of these Games will be that of suspicion legitimized by the Hunter episode. Every track and field athlete who withdrew with an injury, even during a race, was open to the question, usually oblique, about performance-enhancing drugs. USATF is setting up a special commission, to review its compliance with anti-doping rules, with a report due within 90 days. All eyes are turned, finally, on the issue.

"I think sunlight is the best disinfectant," said Chaplin.

It looks as if the world might get a chance to find out if he's right.