Story by Eric.
This is the 34th submission in a long series about Marion Jones, a former elite sprinter who won honour and earned endorsements, fame and fortune by method of fraud. The 30th series introduced Trevor Graham into the picture.
Marion Jones began her professional athletics career in March 1997 with a working relationship with Trevor Graham – a coach she’d later turn over as a conspirator to defraud the sport and ruin her career, and a man who would be sentenced to 12 months in home-confinement for lying to U.S. Federal authorities concerning the BALCO affair.
Though this section of the series may be a general history lesson for some of you, the information contained in this series is imperative to the sum of the whole.
Trevor Graham has in his coaching career at Sprint Capitol produced and lost the top sprinters in the world, and he’s kept his promise of continuing to do that. Thus far in his tumultuous career he’s had 15 athletes (including a paralympian) climb up – and fall down – the ladder into a pool of resignation or banishment, with Marion Jones the latest of the lot.
Graham appeared to continue doing what he does best – pump out a very high percentage of world elites caught in doping scandals (some of whom turn from one event to another and find immediate success) under his watch – while remaining completely oblivious to what is occurring.
Crawford and Barber cut ties with Graham in 2006, and more will follow suit now that he stands at the mercy of the court to decide on his fate.
Graham issued a statement in the second week of August 2006 reporting through his attorneys that he had been administered a polygraph test by a “nationally respected polygraph examiner” which proved Graham had not been involved in providing his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to The New York Times.[1] He also refuted the Grand Jury testimony made by Heredia, who stated he had provided Graham with steroids, EPO and human growth hormones.
Marion Jones, however, who stated she had also passed polygraph tests in the past which were purported to have been administered to have demonstrated innocence or guilt in drugs matters, was found to be a fraud – despite the purported success with the test.
Graham was under the gun after the 2004 USA Olympic Trials, with speculation surrounding the BALCO affair stirring about.
In what should have been saved for a Marion Jones solicitor’s response, Graham’s attorneys stated in a telephone interview 2004-July-12 with The New York Times that “the success that Trevor's runners had this past weekend only confirms that he has not been involved in anything improper or illegal.”
comments (0) write a comment »
write a new comment
This article has no comments.