Marion to face day of judgment

Larking around with colleagues, playing beach volleyball rather well and politely explaining that legal constraints prevented her from speaking to reporters, she has asked for no special treatment from US Olympic committee officials and has fitted in seamlessly as one of the team.

No-one questions her right to compete in the long jump. If she wins and subsequently is found guilty of a doping offence, only she truly suffers. Yet debate rages about whether she will also take her place in the women's sprint relay squad.

If she were to be charged and condemned by the USADA's investigations, then the entire relay squad could lose any medals they might win too.

There is a precedent for this. In the last Sydney Games, the US men's 4x400 metres relay team won gold but have all been stripped of their medals since one of their runners, Jerome Young, was later revealed to have tested positive for a banned substance before the Games. The case is under appeal.

US women's head coach Sue Humphrey has made it fairly clear that Jones, who didn't qualify to defend her 100m and 200m crowns, is likely to be invited to run the relay, insisting that she doesn't listen to "rumours", but veteran Gail Devers has put the cat among the pigeons by appearing to imply that Jones ought to consider her position.

"I would not want to be the coach, there's a lot on her shoulders. And no, you don't want what's happened to the 2000 relay to happen. Then it comes down to the athlete,'' said Devers, noting the actions of last year's world championship 100m winner Kelli White, who pulled out of the relay team after testing positive for the stimulant modafinil. "She didn't want anything to happen to the relay. I thought that was a good thing." Michael Johnson, who could lose his 4x400m relay gold medal from the Atlanta Games because of the Jerome Young scandal, has already made his feelings clear.

The five times Olympic gold medallist said: "I don't know why they should do that. They should be very, very careful. They already have relay medals in jeopardy."

Jones, though, has consistently protested her innocence, so why should she withdraw? She has been interviewed by federal investigators in the BALCO drugs case and it has been reported that her former husband CJ Hunter told them that she injected herself with banned substances-during the last Olympics, yet no charges have yet been brought against her by the USADA as they have against four other top US athletes, including Jones's partner Tom Montgomery.

The widespread belief here now is that Jones will not be charged by the USADA and there is evidently some sympathy from some team-mates for her being left in limbo.

"I hope she gets in the team," said 100m silver medallist Lauryn Williams. "I judge Marion as a person and not by what others may think."

Tonight, at least, people can begin judging her as an athlete again.