(Photo: Photo from press conference, from left to right: Tyson Gay, European high jump champion Tia Hellebaut, European javelin throw champion Steffi Nerius, and Asafa Powell).

STUTTGART, Germany---It's official: Marion Jones will not be competing at this weekend's traditional saeson-capping World Athletics Final, but not because she can't.

"If she wants to compete, she can," said Lamine Diack, President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, at a press conference this afternoon. But he added: "She has said she will not come as far as we know."

In the latest chapter of the Jones saga that has hovered over the sport for the past several years, the sprinter was cleared of potential doping charges when it was announced on Wednesday that her B sample tested negative for the performance enhancing substance, EPO.

On the afternoon prior to the August 18 Weltklasse Golden League meet in Zurich, Meeting Director Hansjorg Wirz told reporters gathered for the annual media lunch that Jones flew back to the U.S. early that morning for "personal reasons". The next day Washington Post reporter Amy Shipley reported that Jones' A sample from June's national championships had tested positive for EPO. The B sample tested last week, under a much more stringent process, overrode the earlier positive A sample.

Speaking through a translator, Diack said of hearing the news, "It was very difficult for me personally. I wished it would have, in a way, been kept confidential until everything was clear." Diack added that such leaks should be stopped. "It's not good for the sport to have these."

Diack dismissed a reporter's question asking if he believed that there is a systemic doping problem in the United States.

"No, I don't think so," Diack said. "That would cast a doubt on all the athletes. Doping control is very well established and organized in the U.S."

He then added, with a smile, "But we do have a former jazz musician at the center of BALCO, who's a very shady character."

U.S sprinter Tyson Gay said the initial news about Jones and this week's resolution is a mixed blessing.

"I honestly think it's good for the sport that it came back not positive, and I also think it's bad for the sport, because her name was just clearing up. And it taints her name a little bit," said Gay, who over the summer month's has emerged as one the world's premiere all-around sprinters.

"I'm sorry that maybe it was a mistake that happened. But I believe that we as athletes have to stay away from people who are affiliated with drugs and also just try to stay away from anything that could possibly test positive."

According to published reports, Jones hasn't been in full training mode since returning from Zurich last month, but still hopes to compete in next weekend IAAF World Cup in Athens, and the following week in Shanghai. The U.S. roster for the World Cup is expected to be released on Monday. As this year's U.S. champion, the spot is hers.

Powell v. Gay in Men's 100
In tomorrow's men's 100, co-world record holder Asafa Powell is the odds-on favorite to extend his unbeaten streak to 16, but Tyson Gay, who has recently emerged as the world's clear No. 2, will give the Jamaican his best shot.

"I believe that any athlete is currently beatable," said Gay, who this year has lowered his personal best to 9.84, when he finished behind Powell's 9.77 world record equalling dash in Zurich last month. "But I think to beat Asafa Powell I have to have my perfect race. I believe that this weekend I have to have more confidence in my start and I have to focus more on the beginning of my race to be with Asafa Powell at 60 meters. I think that will be a more exciting race, instead of me coming on strong at the end and Asafa starting off great and finishing strong."

[For more on today's press conference, please see my summary for the IAAF at: http://www.iaaf.org/WAF06/news/Kind=2/newsId=36110.htm l ]

For his part, Powell admits that Gay is the real deal.

"He's someone that I should be really, really watching," Powell said. "When I watch the races that we have run together, he's finishing really strong. And I'm a person that has a bad habit of easing up at the finish line. And if I get really careless he'll get by and get me."

Powell also admitted that this year, one in which he's produced a single season record of 11 sub-10 second clockings in the event, his focus has been much different than in previous years, resulting in a three-month stretch in which he's been unstoppable.

"I wasn't taking training seriously," he said. "I was playing around in practice so by the time the season was almost done, I was way down, way behind. But this season I put in a lot of hard work. I set a big goal for myself and that's where I'm going."

Entry update
Svetlana Feofanova of Russia, the 2003 world champion in the pole vault, and Jukka Keskisalo of Finland, the recently-minted European champion in the 3000m steeplechase, have pulled out due to illness. 400 meter runner Brandon Simpson, the Jamaican who now competes internationally for Bahrain, pulled out as well, with his wife expecting a child at any day.

The Lord Mayor's Inviting Welcome
During his opening remarks, Dr. Wolfgang Schuster, the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, confirmed that 46,000 tickets for the weekend's event have been sold. His suggestion for something to do when the competition concludes? The "Stuttgarter Weindorf", the city's annual wine festival going on through Sunday night.

In Stuttgart, he noted, "We have the highest wine consumption in Germany," but, he added, "we also have the most inventiveness in Germany. So you see that wine indeed does make you think."

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