Jones completes sprint double with 200m gold

Add as a preferred source on Google

Sydney: Marion Jones completed the second leg of her quest for five Sydney Olympic titles on Thursday, outclassing her rivals to win the women's 200 metres gold.

The American clocked 21.84 seconds to give her both sprint titles, beating Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas (22.27) and Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka (22.28).

Jones immediately went over to her husband C J Hunter, facing a drugs ban after testing positive for steroids, and gave him a kiss.

Smiling and relaxed before she settled into her blocks, Jones took a deep breath, a look of stern concentration on her face.

The 24-year-old was away fast and powered through the field to forge a two-metre lead by the bend, increasing that to four by the finish.

She then sank to her knees and watched the race replay on a giant screen in Stadium Australia before setting off on a slow victory jog, the United States flag in one hand and that of Belize -- her mother's birthplace - in the other.

Jones won the 100 metres last Saturday.

She has already qualified for the long jump final on Friday and is hoping for two more golds in the 4x100 and 4x400 metres relays.

It was the best time in the world this season. Davis-Thompson recorded a personal best and Jayasinghe clocked a national record for Sri Lanka's first Olympic medal in five decades.

Jones, already a leading light of the Sydney Olympics, found herself back in the public eye on Monday when it was revealed that her husband, the world champion shot putter, had failed four drugs tests.

The late American Florence Griffith-Joyner, holder of the 200 metres world record of 21.34 seconds, was the last woman to win both sprints at an Olympics, in Seoul in 1988.



(c) Reuters Limited.