A vacation tour goes off track


There were quite a few amazing sights during my recent vacation cruise that included a stop in Belize.

While in Belize, I hiked through a lush rain forest and took an innertube cruise down a spring-fed river that wound through a network of caves. I ate local fare and even caught a distant glimpse of one of the Belizian keys that inspired Madonna to write the song ''Isla Bonita.''

Great place, Belize. It's an up and coming tourist destination.

There are plenty of things I was told to expect in Belize: Around 60 different varieties of snakes (only six or so of which are poisonous), monkeys, Toucans and the fast-food presence of Subway (but not KFC, McDonald's or Burger King). I did not, however, expect to find a monument to a disgraced American sports celebrity.

But there it was on the side of the highway leading out of Belize City: The Marion Jones Sports Complex.

There's even a silhouette of Jones in motion on the billboard perched alongside the road.

Jones, the American sprinter who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, possesses dual citizenship. Her mother is a native of Belize. After Jones went crazy winning medals in Sydney, she made a goodwill tour to Belize and local officials renamed the 7,500-seat National Stadium in her honor.

It's not much to look at, but the locals make the most of the site. There are bleachers on one side, facing a soccer pitch. The field is encircled by a track used for running and cycling events.

Having covered Jones at the 2000 Olympics, it didn't surprise me that there were artifacts of her career in one off the countries that claims her as a citizen. But with Jones serving a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to lying to federal agents in the BALCO investigation, I thought most would have been well-hidden.

Jones' legacy has acquired a coating of tarnish in the last year. She's been stripped of her world and Olympic medals for doping offenses and, earlier this week, confessed steroids dealer Angel Heredia testified in federal court that her former coach, Trevor Graham, told him he wanted to administer a banned substances cocktail to Jones before the 2000 Summer Games.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Heredia testified that Graham wanted to pump human growth hormone, insulin and the blood-doping drug EPO into Jones' system befor the Olympics.

When I took notice of the Marion Jones Sports Complex, I happened to be on a bus bound for the rain forest and innertube cave cruise. I asked our guide about the complex and whether Jones' recent troubles had changed the way she's viewed in Belize.

The country hasn't made any plans to re-name its national sports stadium, which sort of goes along with what the guide told me. Most Belizians don't mind counting Jones as one of their own, partly because of the visibility she brought the nation in 2000.

For a nation so small and so hungry to boost its tourist appeal, any level recognition can't hurt.