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Monday, May 15, 2000
Jones not backing off goal of five gold medals in Sydney

 HOUSTON (AP) -- Marion Jones is sticking to her goal of an unprecedented five gold medals in Sydney.
 
 Another disappointing long jump over the weekend in Japan didn't do anything to dissuade Jones from her plan to compete in -- and win -- five different events in the upcoming Olympics.
 
 "I just want to go there and win everything I'm entered in," Jones said Monday. "To me, it's not a big deal."
 
 To others, it is.
 
 Jones may be the fastest woman in track, but she has yet to translate that speed into consistently good long jump efforts. And she has been criticized within the sport for possibly jeopardizing her sprints by placing too much emphasis on trying to win a gold medal in the long jump.
 
 "It's quite frustrating," Jones said. "When you're in the public eye it seems everything is criticized. You have to walk a narrow line."
 
 The charismatic Jones easily won the women's 100 meters Saturday at the IAAF Japan Grand Prix in Osaka, running a 10.84 into a wind as part of her preparations for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in July.
 
 But she finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 7 inches, well behind the 21-11 3/4 by winner Guan Yingnan of China.
 
 It was another frustrating effort for Jones, who has struggled trying to tame her speed down the runway to find a takeoff point she is comfortable with.
 
 "I just had a miserable performance," she said. "I didn't jump well at all."
 
 Jones, a two-time world champion in the 100, has been vocal since last year about her plans to win gold medals in the 100, 200, 400 relay and 1,600 relay as well as the long jump in Sydney.
 
 She acknowledged Monday, while appearing at an Olympic media summit here, that she may have been a bit too vocal.
 
 "At times, perhaps, I wish I would have left it as a surprise, maybe kept it quiet a little longer," Jones said. "Then maybe I wouldn't be getting some of the criticism I get."
 
 Jones went into last year's world championships with similar plans, setting a goal of four gold medals in Seville, Spain.
 
 She left with only one -- in the 100 -- and a bronze in the long jump, after pulling up with a back injury in the semifinals of the 200. Rival Inger Miller won the 200, the first time since 1997 that Jones has lost in the race.
 
 The 24-year-old Jones is well aware that a similar fate could befall her in Sydney.
 
 "If something happens and I don't win all five, I'll have to cope with that," she said. "I'm going to go there and try to win everything possible I can win."
 
 Jones competed last month for the first time since last August's world championships in the Mt. SAC Relays, and dominated an event she doesn't even like by becoming the fourth-fastest American woman in the 400 meters with a time of 49.59 seconds.
 
 That performance and her 100-meter time against the wind in Osaka on Saturday have her confident about her running. Six jumps in Osaka, though, proved she still has a lot of work to do on her long jump technique to be a serious medal contender in Sydney.
 
 "I never said I would go to Sydney and it would be a piece of cake," she said. "If it was so easy to win everything, it wouldn't be that special to me anyway."
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