Jenkins shows Jones that cheats can prosper

The incarceration of Marion Jones has been greeted with general support from the world of athletics and rightly so. However sad the utter demise of a genuinely talented athlete, the choices she made were all her own, including the bizarre decision to lie twice to federal prosecutors when the evidence was clear to even the most myopic of her supporters.

Her case is, of course, unique in its narrative but it has some features in common with a case which shocked the British athletics community some 20 years ago.

Like Jones, David Jenkins of Scotland had been a precocious young talent. At the age of 19 in 1971 his statuesque frame strode to victory in the 400 metres at the European Championships in Helsinki. He was the star of the 4x400m relay team which won a silver medal at the following year's Munich Olympics. More medals and success followed over the next 10 years and, when I entered the team as a youngster in 1978, Jenkins was one of the stars we all looked up to. Indeed after retirement his company, hospitality and expertise while based in San Diego were enjoyed by many of my compatriots including Daley Thompson, Roger Black and Kriss Akabusi.

They, like the rest of us, were unaware of the role that drugs had played in his career and, more shockingly, in his business life. Like Victor Conte of Balco fame, Jenkins was keen to cash in on the huge demand for steroid use, particularly from those who will never grace a winner's podium but want a physique to overcome whatever inadequacies that fill the rest of their being.

In 1988 Jenkins was convicted of smuggling about $70m worth of steroids across the border from Mexico. He was sentenced to seven years in the Mojave Desert prison but ultimately served only nine months. During his testimony Jenkins admitted to using steroids during his athletics career but, unlike current practice, he and his relay colleagues still have their medals as no positive test was ever produced.

If the story ended there, then Marion Jones' situation would be an updated illustration of how a career built on deceit and denial can lead you into the arms of the criminally motivated. Once embraced, you become ever more comfortable in such an environment until one day that false world collapses around you.

There would appear to be no roads to redemption for Jones as far as sport is concerned. However, even her harshest critic would surely hope that she can get some order into her life for her children's sake as much as anything when she is released.

Nothing so mundane awaited Jenkins on his release. His comprehensive knowledge of the world of steroids and their market was to prove very lucrative. The story goes that he produced a whey protein supplement in his garage whose effectiveness was legendary and, with astute marketing, Designer Whey became a huge success. Jenkins teamed up with Dan Duchaine, another individual who was an advocate for steroid use in sport and was considered one of the authoritative figures on the subject right up to his death due to kidney failure eight years ago at the age of 47.

The company they created, Next Nutrition, continues to prosper and so does Jenkins despite some of their products being periodically banned. It appears that there is little or no attempt to hide the link of the company's founders to their drug-dealing past. Indeed the tag line from Jenkins to describe one of its best-selling nutrition bars is "think of it as Snickers on steroids".

No one can doubt the business acumen of Jenkins and neither should anyone doubt the huge demand from the general public for all the short cuts to personal satisfaction that they create. But he is not exactly the example we had hoped would be held up for those who sought to follow in his footsteps.

There have been many in the past few days who have espoused the wish that the imprisonment of Jones would also act as a deterrent for those tempted down that same path. The reality is probably less palatable.

The success that Jenkins has found obviously shows that not everyone thinks the same way. Indeed, as Dwain Chambers contemplates a possible return to the British team, one wonders if the battles being fought are beginning to look like a Terminator movie where the villain just gets straight back up and keeps on coming. Help Arnie! Oh well, on second thoughts perhaps not.