Jones separates from husband, plans divorce

Gene Cherry

Triple Olympic champion Marion Jones said on Tuesday she had separated from her husband, world shot put champion C.J. Hunter, and will seek a divorce.

"C.J. and I very recently decided we were headed in different directions in terms of our lives and decided that it was time for us to go on in our separate ways," Jones told Reuters in a telephone interview from her home in Apex.

"Over the past couple of months we have been growing apart and we decided this was best for both of us."

Jones, 25, said she had been separated from Hunter since February and she would soon file for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The couple had been married since October 1998 and had no children.

MUTUAL DECISION
"There really wasn't any one situation, any one thing" that led to the separation, Jones said. "I guess we really were not seeing eye to eye on things any more in terms of our daily lives, in terms of our future together.

"So it was a mutual decision, it wasn't like one of us decided we didn't want to do this any more. We both decided this is what we wanted.

"C.J. is very special to me. He was my support on and off the track for the past six years, and I, of course, wish him all the best in his life and future."

Jones said the separation, which she called "unfortunate," would not affect her athletics career.

"I still plan to run, and hopefully run faster and jump farther," said Jones. "I don't think this decision in my life is going to affect what I love to do, run track and compete.

"Sure, this is perhaps a little difficult to deal with at this time, and I would hope that everybody would respect both C.J. and my privacy throughout all of this, but I am still going to be out there running and traveling and hopefully winning more gold medals."

Her next competition will be Saturday at a grand prix meeting in Stanford, California.

POSITIVE TEST NOT FACTOR
Hunter, 32, officially retired from the sport earlier this year after being suspended for a positive dope test, for the banned steroid nandrolone, last year.

The positive test was announced in Sydney during the Olympics, adding pressure to Jones's quest for five gold medals. She went on to win gold in the 100 and 200 metres and 4x400-metre relay and bronze in the long jump and 4x100-metre relay, becoming the first woman to win five athletics medals at the same Games.

Jones said their separation was not related to his suspension.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with what happened in Sydney," she said. "Everybody knows he has retired, had retired prior to the Olympic Games, and for us the whole drug thing is no longer an issue.

"Sure it did not come to the resolution that we all wanted, but we have put that in the past and that has nothing to do with the decision we have made," said Jones, who has strongly supported Hunter on the doping issue.

DENIAL
Hunter has steadfastly denied ever taking a banned substance. He has said that a contaminated iron supplement, which was not banned, had resulted in his positive test for nandrolone.

The couple met in the mid-1990s at the University of North Carolina where Jones was a student and Hunter an assistant coach. Although they had different personalities, she personable and he close-vested, the couple had a strong relationship, friends said.

It was Hunter who introduced Jones to her coach, Trevor Graham, and Jones said she would remain in the Raleigh area to work with Graham.

"My relationship with Trevor has not changed," Jones said, "so I will stay in the Raleigh area to train."

The couple had been building a home near Chapel Hill, and "when the house is complete that will be my main residence," Jones said.

Later this month, Jones will be competing in the American national championships, the U.S. qualifier for the world championships in Edmonton in August.

Jones told Reuters less than two weeks ago she would not try to duplicate her Olympic schedule by bidding for five gold medals in Canada, saying: "I've kind of established myself now, and really don't have to prove anything."