Gordon Williams, Contributor

Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown. - file

Jamaica's World and Olympic champion sprinter, Veronica Campbell-Brown, believes recent admission to use of performance-enhancing drugs by former American star Marion Jones, has damaged the integrity of track and field enough to cast doubt over outstanding performances for years to come.

"Whatever Marion has done has put a dark cloud over the sport," said Campbell-Brown on Tuesday. "... As soon as someone runs a 10.7 (seconds in the women's 100 metres) people are going to say 'that's another Marion'."

Jones's accomplishments made her a high-profile track and field superstar. Her fastest official 100 metres time was 10.70 seconds in 1999. According to Campbell-Brown, who has a best 100 metres clocking of 10.85, Jones's visibility worldwide may compound the fallout from the American's admission to steroid use.

"Marion was one of the most recognised and respected sprinters," said the Jamaican, who is currently living in Florida, United States, where she is training for this year's Olympic Games in Beijing, China. For Jones to engage in drugs, she added, "that's not good".

Stripped of medals

Late last year, Jones admitted to use of performance-enhancing drugs and was stripped of all her Olympic 2000 medals - three gold and two bronze - and ordered to return prize money she had won since September 2000.

On January 11 she was also sentenced to six months in prison, plus community service, by a U.S. court for lying to government investigators about her use of the drugs and her part in a cheque-fraud scam.

Before her admission, Jones was viewed as one of the most outstanding athletes of all time. Now, she has been banned from even attending the Olympics in China. Yet, despite Jones's absence from the track and general public view, Campbell-Brown believes the American's tainted legacy will not disappear easily.

"I don't think these memories will ever go away," she said.

However, Campbell-Brown, the defending Olympic 200 metres champion and last year's IAAF World Championships of Athletics 100 metres gold medalist, said that she does not feel added pressure to become the next standard bearer for women's athletics, especially sprinting.

"I wouldn't say (it's a) burden (to be among the most recognised in the sport)," she explained. "I try not to carry extra load."

Meanwhile, Campbell-Brown said, "You never can tell" if this year's Olympics will be totally free of athletes who take performance- enhancing drugs, adding that "a lot of people lied" about drug use.

While she does view herself as a role model for track and field, Campbell-Brown explained that she prefers to concentrate on her preparation to maximise her own potential. Her performances, she believes, will reflect that effort.

"All I do is work and do what I do," she said.

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.