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Oregon Daily Emerald
Jones brings big-name
presence to Pre Classic
Tom Jordan pulled a coup on
Wednesday.
Jordan got Marion Jones
to come back to the Prefontaine
Classic Grand Prix for a fifth time,
and the athlete, revered as one of
the fastest women in the world,
will run the
100 at Hay
ward Field on
Sunday.
Jordan got
his big catch,
bringing her
back to the big
pond.
And he
made us all
think she was
going to sit at
home and
watch the Pre
Classic on
ESPN2 (tape
delayed at 8 p.m. on Sunday,
much less).
When it was announced that
Maurice Green wouldn’t be return
ing to Hayward after giving the Eu
gene fans something to cheer about
last season, the thought of having
the 28th version of one of the na
tion’s most prestigious meets with
out the big name was kind of scary.
Hicham El Guerrouj and Stacy
Dragila are big names in the track
and field world and have been to
the Prefontaine before. Former
UCLA star Gail Devers is also an
entrant, and she should remind
some of Oregon’s older fans of the
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good old days of track in the Pacif
ic-10 Conference.
But Jones is in a world all by
herself.
Jones is known to American
fans as the woman who made it all
happen in Sydney, Australia. She
won an unprecedented five
medals in the 2000 Olympics —
gold in the 100, 200, 4x400, and
bronze in the long jump and
4x100 — garnering athlete of the
year honors from the Associated
Press, ESPN and Reuters.
And Jordan made us all think
she wouldn’t want to give the
Hayward crowd something to
cheer about.
Bravo Tom, bravo.
Before Jones was winning all
those medals overseas, she had al
ready made a name for herself in
Track Town, U.S.A. In fact, since
she graduated from North Carolina
in 1997, Jones has never missed a
Prefontaine.
And she’s done something that
no one, in the 28 years of the Clas
sic, could imagine. Jones is six-for
six at the fabled meet.
Think about that for a second:
Six-for-six. Six-for-six in a meet
that seemingly attracts more and
more talent each year.
Jones has never lost at Hayward
Field. Every single time she has
stepped foot in front of the green
colored grandstands, she has come
up big.
That equals two 100 titles, two
200 titles and two more titles in
the long jump.
Um, wow.
Now, let’s get back to Jordan’s
announcement Wednesday that
Jones would be joining Dragila and
Devers as headliners at the meet.
The announcement was done
without any fanfare. It was post
ed on www.preclassic.com and
sent out to the media as a discrete
e-mail. It was an announcement
that came in under the radar, so
to speak.
It was pure genius.
It was something that wouldn’t
draw away from the enormity of
the meet itself. After all, Steve Pre
fontaine was one of the most inspi
rational athletes in the last half
century, and to draw away from
the meet that honors him would
have been a disgrace.
But to the media, it was an an
nouncement that shows the Pre
Classic is continuing its reign. To
be the best meet, you need the
best athletes, and Jordan knows
that. More importantly, he has
shown that.
Only Jordan and Jones know
how long she has been signed up
to run at Hayward, but one would
guess that it may have been
awhile, and that Jordan, the direc
tor of the meet, was holding out as
to create more suspense.
That doesn’t matter, though, as
just getting Jones to Hayward was a
coup in itself.
E-mail sports reporter Hank Hager
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com. His
opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Oregon
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emerald
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