And indeed there is more than just residual love for Marion all over Belize: many want to believe that she was set up, or somehow victimized for daring to hold up a Belizean flag in what should have been America’s proudest moment. And how could we think differently? Belize embraced and adored Marion in a way that America could never have matched.

We loved Marion not just because she won, but because she remembered us in her biggest moment when it would have been easier, safer and perfectly acceptable to have done otherwise, to have given Belize a knowing wink, instead of putting our flag on the world stage. That’s true love, and loyalty…and in Belize that counts for plenty. And it was repaid, royally, in 2001 when Marion made a visit to Belize.

Tonight, we look back into our archives for the days of grace that came long before today's disgrace.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
Was there ever a prouder moment than this, when Marion Jones carried the Belizean flag at the Sydney Games of 2000 after winning the women’s 100 meters? She was at the center of the athletic universe, the fastest woman in the world, crowned at the Olympics, and she put up our flag.

So when Marion Jones came to Belize months later, in January of 2001 draped in glory, we were overjoyed to hear her say it was a return, to a place she called home.

Marion Jones,
{January 2001] “I understand that this key has been given to many world leaders but dis da fu we! Gosh this is really an honor. There’s been a lot of planning to get me and my family here but we’re here now and we are home so thank you.”

And even now – 6 hard years later, that still somehow produces cold seed... And for her embrace, Marion was richly rewarded, she was paraded through the streets like a returning hero. School children lined the entire city chanting her name and there was a genuine eruption of joy and goodwill in those streets. Each kiss it seems was an infection of hope, each embrace left a trace of some kind of magic, Marion was a hero everyone could love. Although the love was so intoxicating, it was too much for some, and it left this schoolgirl woozy. But such was the love we had for Marion – the kind that made schoolgirls break into song and gush – understandably – at the site of that most treasured kind of athletic jewelry.

All this goodwill and genuine love was cemented when she was bestowed with the Order of Belize. And that’s when she put it all in perspective.

Marion Jones,
[January, 2001] “And so I crossed the finish line for the hundred meter final - and I won by the way - and I crossed that finish line and immediately saw my family. I knew what it was all about. It was about family and sometimes I feel bad that it took me 24 years to realize that but I realize it now and will never ever forget it.”

And we would never ever forget – the singular magic of that trip captivated Belizeans – in a way that 6 years later that kind of genuine joy and absolute belief doesn’t even seem recognizable.

And so through the years following as she went into decline, stalked by allegations of steroid use, dogged by injury, Belize never gave up on Marion, we defended her, believed in her, stood by her and she stood by her story and and she repeated it to 7NEWS when she visited Belize in December of 2006.

Marion Jones,
{December 2006] “It is very simple: I have never done anything wrong. I've never taken any illegal substances and that is really what it comes down to; there is no need to get into it at all."

Turns out that was a lie and when she said it in December of 2006, she knew it to be so but at that point – after so many other lies - what else could she say? And today as she pleaded guilty to steroid use and admitted to lying about it since 2003 – Belizeans had a right to feel betrayed, to feel that they had been duped, caught up in a cheater’s charade.

But lies didn’t matter in 2001, the truth was 24 year old Marion was a young woman looking for a home, and we were looking for a hero bigger than ourselves, if possible, one that’s larger than life. Yes it was a lie, but what a beautiful lie….and in that strange beauty, lies probably the only truth – the truth that was in the love that poured through the streets of this often sad city in January of 2001.

And somewhere in all this is the Marion Jones Sporting Complex. With Marion having declared bankruptcy and now being implicated also in a check fraud scheme, that joint venture between the Belize government and her is possibly permanently sidetracked. On the upside, at her press conference today, Marion said she will make sure something good comes out of all this.