Athletics: Marion Jones withdraws from 200m

SACRAMENTO - Olympic champion Marion Jones pulled out of the 200m at the United States Olympic trials yesterday to focus on the long jump and the relays, and perhaps even a spot in the 100m.

"My reasoning for pulling out of the 200 is simply because of fatigue. There's no other reason. After running my round [on Saturday] I was simply tired, exhausted," Jones said two hours after pulling out of the event. It happens. It hasn't happened in the past. I woke up this morning, I was tired. I've always told myself that if I cannot give 100 per cent out on the track then I won't go out there."

Jones, therefore, will not be defending either of her Olympic sprint titles at the Athens Games next month. But there's a chance she could make the US 100m team, for which she failed to qualify during the Olympic trials.

A change in the 100m squad is possible because of a doping case involving Torri Edwards, who finished second in the trials.

If Edwards lost her arbitration hearing and was banned for two years for using a stimulant, she would lose her place on the team.

That would move the fourth-place trials finisher, Gail Devers, on to the team. But Devers, who has won two Olympic 100m titles, has always wanted to win a hurdles title and could skip the 100m to focus on the hurdles. Then, the fifth-place finisher, Jones, would make the team.

Jones won the long jump at the Olympic trials. By making the US team, she qualifies for all relays.

Jones' withdrawal comes as world indoor 1500 metres record holder Regina Jacobs was banned for four years after a positive test for the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).

Jacobs, 40, yesterday told the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) she had accepted the sanction after a positive test at last year's US trials. Her subsequent results will be annulled and she will forfeit all her winnings since testing positive on June 21, 2003.

THG is at the centre of the doping scandal that has engulfed US athletics. An arbitration panel was scheduled to hear Jacobs' case today, the same day as the final of the US Olympic trials' women's 1500m.

Jacobs was one of six US athletes entered in the trials facing doping charges. World 100m record holder Tim Montgomery failed to finish in the top three, thereby missing selection. Olympic 400 metres silver medallist Alvin Harrison failed to make the final and his twin Calvin finished fifth.

Former world indoor 200 metres champion Michelle Collins withdrew from the trials. Olympic 4x100 metres relay gold medallist in 1996 Chryste Gaines failed to qualify for the 100 and later withdrew from the 200.

The eliminations and withdrawals helped ease an awkward problem for US officials. They have vowed to send a clean team to Athens but were facing the possibility of selecting athletes who were still facing doping charges.