Amid the flash there was innocence. Amid the sparkle a moment of purity when it was not about Madison Avenue or grand predictions or pressure, but rather the unabashed joy of crossing the finish line first in her first Olympic Games.
Marion Jones had to win one gold medal before she could win five, had to capture her first to pursue her second, to assault history the way everyone expects she will.
And when it happened Saturday night in the women’s 100 meters in front of a crowd of 104,228 at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, Jones did not remain composed the way she had vowed.
She leaped, she waved, she cried, she waved the American flag and that of her mother’s homeland of Belize. When handed the gold medal, the 24-year-old did what most every other first-timer does and examined it with childlike wonder.
“It’s smooth all over,” she said, sounding surprised. “Very glamorous-looking. It’s beautiful.”
It was also very easily achieved, all but over in her first three explosive strides out of the blocks and punctuated by a Walter Payton-like high step 10.75 seconds later and about 4 to 5 meters ahead of Greece’s Ekaterini Thanou.
If it was brilliant in its execution, it was that much more stunning in its dominance, 37 one-hundreths of a second faster than Thanou, who finished in 11.12, and a hair faster than that over Jamaica’s Tayna Lawrence, who won the bronze in 11.18.
It was neither an Olympic nor world record, although it was Jones’ best this season. On a cool evening with a slight headwind, Jones actually made the rest of the field look slow with the largest margin of victory in the Olympic women’s 100 since Marjorie Jackson of Australia won by .38 of a second in 1952.
“Wasn’t that beautiful?” U.S. women’s coach Karen Dennis exclaimed. “She just jumped out of the blocks and did what Marion does best–exploded, accelerated, lifted, finished strong and looked like she was having fun.”
Wearing shimmering silver cleats, Jones all but glided the 48 steps, following a sleepless night with a dreamlike start to her quest for five gold medals, which would be an Olympic track and field record for women. Embracing her mother, Marion and her half-brother Albert, Jones accepted the flags of the United States and Belize and started off her on her victory lap surrounded by television cameras.
“After 19 years of believing and dreaming about this, it all comes down to one moment, one race,” she said. “That’s a lot of pressure on all of us.”
Jones’ next challenge is a full day Wednesday of three separate qualifying rounds for the 200 meters and long jump, before she is expected to go after her second gold in the 200 meters Thursday night.
The long jump final takes place Friday night, with the 4×100 and 4×400 relays wrapping up Saturday night.
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It is bound to be a battle, considering Jones’ inconsistency over the last two years in long jump, and disarray in both women’s relays because of injuries and poor performances.
“We’re struggling,” Dennis admitted. “[But] we have Marion … we’re still alive.”
Jones went back and forth on whether she felt relief Saturday before rejecting the notion.
“I’m out there having a ball,” she said. “This is not a stressful time in my life; this is a very happy time in my life. It is nice to have finally won the first of hopefully four more, but relief isn’t the word I would use to describe it.
“This was an incredible experience–everything I dreamed of and more.”