So Marion is guilty and her relay team-mates have been dirtied through association, and Thorpey is innocent but forever tarnished by the slur.

Kids, Nancy Reagan had it right.

When it comes to drugs, just say no.

Seriously – looking at the charred remains of what was Flash’s career and the compete obliteration of anything she may have done under her own steam, you have to wonder whether winning really is worth it at any cost.

The fastest woman on earth has hit the ground in spectacular fashion and the resulting explosion has burned all around her.

Am I surprised? No.

To my mind there has been a big fat question mark over Jones ever since her (now ex) hubby CJ Hunter was caught using drugs in Sydney.

Because really, I don’t know about your relationship, but there is not a lot Alex does that I don’t know about. And vice versa.

Seriously, when your nearest and dearest is planning something a little bit naughty, you just know.

So Marion’s deer-in-the-headlights, “but I didn’t know” act didn’t really wash.

And whadda ya know?

Seven years, two investigative journalists, a disgraced laboratory, a couple of grand juries and some tell-all interviews later and Marion Jones admits to having “unknowingly” taken anabolic steroids.

Seriously, though, “unknowingly”?

I’m pretty sure that if all of a sudden I started running a hell of a lot faster after taking my coach’s special vitamins, then some part of me would be wondering what exactly was so special about flaxseed oil.

If not, then the facial hair would probably give it away.

Anyways, she has come out and admitted it and rightly has been stripped of her Olympic and world champ titles from 2000 onwards and told to return the prize money.

Good luck with that. She declared bankruptcy earlier in the year.

Losing your multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals and your sports respect will probably do that. So none of that will change.

The woman formally known as the fastest woman in the world will slip quietly into obscurity in her home in Texas, occasionally trotted out for a “Where are they now” interview or listed in a 20 to 1 “What not to do in sport” special.

But now the question remains over whether her relay team-mates should be forced to hand in their medals. I say, damn straight they should.

Claiming they didn’t know is as ludicrous as Marion claiming she didn’t know CJ was enjoying some special vitamins.

And if they didn’t know, then they had to have suspected. For goodness sake, if complete strangers had some clue, then her team had to have had some inkling.

And seriously, not saying something is just as bad. And, for that alone, they should lose their medals.

On the other hand, our own retired Sydney star, Ian Thorpe, sadly acknowledged that he will never be completely free of the drug taint. He has been repeatedly cleared and FINA has announced he has no case to answer. But he’s right. It doesn’t matter. Like an inflection at the end of a sentence, there will always be that question, left unspoken, but hanging.

I can’t imagine what being innocent and doubted would be like. But I think that knowing you were doing something wrong, or that a team-mate was doing something wrong and not doing anything about it, would be far, far worse.