FULFILLING A DREAM FANS WATCH JONES TAKE SECOND GOLD.Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer THOUSAND OAKS Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. - More than 100 fans of track superstar Marion Jones Marion Jones, also known as Marion Jones-Thompson (born October 12, 1975 in Los Angeles, California), is an American former athlete in track and field. She was the winner of five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, which she later relinquished after - including former coaches and high school relay teammates - gathered at the Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. at Thousand Oaks High School Thousand Oaks High School is a high school established in 1962 and located in Thousand Oaks, California. It is a California Distinguished School, and offers curriculum at all levels for Thousand Oaks students. The mascot is the lancer. on Thursday night to watch the 24-year-old Olympian bring home gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize No. 2. With shouts and cheers, they watched on a big-screen television as Jones took to the track early in the evening to qualify for the 200-meter semifinals. ``It's so exciting to see that a local girl has hit the big time,'' said Thousand Oaks resident Laurie Campbell, who brought her two daughters to see ``a great role model.'' The Olympic broadcast, sponsored by Thousand Oaks High School and marionjones.com, a Web site hosted by Urban Box Office Network, brought many people who have long admired the athlete into one room and unleashed their boundless pride for the Olympic winner. Before Jones even appeared on the screen Thursday, many already knew she had taken her second gold - shown later in the tape-delayed broadcast - and they said they weren't surprised at her success. ``You just expect it,'' said Heather Hanger, 26, who was on Jones' relay team in 1992 at the high school and is now a health teacher and assistant track coach there. Jones, who also won the 100-meter dash, has said she hopes to take home an unprecedented five gold medals from the Sydney Olympics. ``If she can do it once, she can do it many times,'' said Vanessa Jacques, a 15-year-old who runs track at the school and has looked up to Jones for a long time. After all, Jones has the gift of faith and determination, in addition to natural talent, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. her fans. ``I've seen a lot of athletes that had great athletic ability, and they would try to get by on that ability, whereas she was striving to be better,'' said Jones' former basketball coach, Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown (b. 1934) is an African-American jazz guitarist and singer who is affectionately called "The Godfather of Go-Go". . Art Green, Jones' former track coach, agreed that Jones has something special. ``Out of all the kids I've coached, this is the highest achievement,'' he said. ``You just get choked up thinking about it.'' According to the Web site about Jones, at the age of 8, the track star already knew what she wanted to accomplish as an adult. She wrote on a chalkboard hanging in her bedroom, ``I will be an Olympic champion.'' Jones, who missed the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta because of an injury, would have been favored to win the gold there. Since the UBO UBO Ultimate Baseball Online UBO Université de Bretagne Occidentale (French University Britanny) UBO Urban Box Office UBO Ultimate Beneficial Owner UBO Unidentified Bright Object (radiology) Web site was launched Sept. 15, hundreds of people have signed the site's guest book and written Jones messages each day, said Elan (Emulated LAN) A virtual LAN in the ATM world. See LANE and virtual LAN. Elan - ["Top-down Programming with Elan", C.H.A. Koster, Ellis Horwood 1987]. Masliyah, marketing manager for the site. The site also provides fans with Jones' background and her views about the races she has run. The site is conducting a Marion Jones Virtual Relay Race relay race Race between teams in which each team member successively covers a specified portion of the course. In track events, such as the 4 × 100-m and 4 × 400-m relays, the runner finishing one leg passes a baton to the next runner while both are running within , where users can enter a contest to meet Jones, Masliyah said. ``(Marion) is on the Web site a lot,'' Masliyah said. ``She is really young and hip and into the Internet culture.'' To him, Jones appears to be the most popular athlete at the Sydney Olympics. ``If you see her smile and the way she treats people . . . she's so genuine and down-to-earth.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Marion Jones celebrates her second gold medal, Doug Mills/Associated Press (2) Wendy Wendelstein watches runner Marion Jones via a Web site at Thousand Oaks High gathering Thursday night. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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