'I was robbed'

Every athlete wants to top the podium at international events and hear their country’s national anthem. For Pauline Davis of the Bahamas she was denied that moment of glory by Marion Jones’ cheating.

Davis was one of several speakers at the Women in Sports Expo hosted by the Bermuda National Athletics Association Saturday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

Davis had set a goal at a very young age to bring glory to the Bahamas by winning gold at the Olympics. At the 2000 Games in Australia, Davis finished second to Jones in  the 200 metres.

The Bahamian sprinter would still get a chance to top the podium as part of Bahamas ‘Golden Girls, who won the 4x100 relay, but she was denied her solo golden opportunity.

It wasn’t until nine years later that Jones was disqualified and Davis got her gold in the 200m.

She said when she first received the news “I was very numb for a few days because I didn’t believe it at first. I thought I was asleep or dreaming or something”

“Then I got a little angry. One of the greatest feelings anyone can ever have is put on your country’s colours and represent your country. There is no other feeling in the world that can compare to that.

She added every athlete when they compete and win love to see their country’s flag hoisted and hear the national anthem.

“I did not hear my national anthem and I felt I was robbed of that and I would never get that back. All those people in the stadium and all the people watching around the world, I wanted them to hear my national anthem. I wanted to see my flag hoisted because I am from a small country.

“You are from Bermuda, you know what that means. We are David against Goliath.

“On that day, I was robbed of that moment. I was robbed of seeing my country’s flag hoisted and hear ‘Lift up your head to the rising sun, Bahamaland, March on to glory, your bright banners waving high,’ – I so much wanted to hear that.

Later on CBS sports reporter Bonnie Bernstein, who was also one of the guest speakers at the Expo, was asked about the mindset of Jones during her period of steadfast strong denials against taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Bernstein said that it doesn’t apply to athletes solely, but people’s first inclination when caught doing something wrong is denial.

She said people ask: “’How truthful do we need to be? How many details can we get away with and nobody else will every find out about it?’”

Bernstein added: “What is important to understand in this day and age where there is myriad ways of gathering information – and inevitably, everybody’s got an enemy somewhere – the truth will always come out.

“I think a point where Marion was lying, part of it was she was personally in denial. And this is what happens. You perpetuate the lie so much, you start to believe it.

“That’s what I think is going on with Roger Clemons. That’s what I believe until he was forced to admit it, Lance Armstrong was doing too. And that’s the way I believe Marion Jones thought.

“But at some point you hit a wall and there’s no place other to go than tell the truth. Sadly, sometimes, it coincides with a book coming out. That’s no coincidence.

“It wasn’t coincidence for Mark McGwire. It wasn’t coincidence for Jose Canseco. It wasn’t coincidence for Marion Jones and it wasn’t coincidence really for Lance Armstrong.”