SAINT-DENIS, France -- Even though she hasn't run all year, Marion Jones is still in high demand.

With only a handful of meetings following the World Championships, all organizers would like the Olympic and world champion to make her return at their meet.

Ilya Slutsky, the organizer of the Sep. 20 Moscow Challenge said Jones "is 90 percent committed to running in Moscow,'' even though the prize money in the women's race is only $75,000, or 15 percent of what her partner Tim Montgomery can make during the competition.

The winner in the men's sprint there gets $500,000.

Wilfried Meert, who organizes the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels on Sep. 5 is hoping to have Jones make her comeback at his meet.

The Van Damme is one of the most prestigious in the world, always draws a crowd of 50,000, and is already certain to have a top field in the women's 100. It would be daunting for any athlete, but especially so for someone who has not run competitively all season.

"The others are sharp while she is starting from scratch,'' Meert said.

That's why he is offering her a chance to run in the B series of the event, where there will be far less pressure on her shoulders.

Gold Medal Medicine
Winning gold is already tough enough. Battling the flue at the same time is something else.

"I'm still alive and feeling better,'' Svetlana Feofanova said Tuesday, a day after performing with a fever and still beating world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva and defending champion Stacy Dragila in the women's pole vault.

Coming into the final, she didn't even know whether she would be able to compete, let alone beat favorite Isinbayeva.

"I just sat there asking myself: 'Shall I go or not.''' she said.

"This gold medal for me was twice as difficult because I had to overcome the disease while the others only had to think about the competition,'' the European champion said.

Victory proved the best medicine.

"With the gold medal, I'm feeling better today,'' she said.

No Dip, No Gold
NO DIP, NO GOLD@: Four athletes were within .01 seconds in the 100 final, but only one did not make the clutch dip to the line.

Kim Collins threw his body across the line in 10.07 seconds, while Darrel Brown of Trinidad and Tobago was still in the full upright position as if the tape was 10 meters further. Brown took silver in 10.08 but on Tuesday, knew he had missed out on something big.

"I'm not accustomed to dipping,'' he said. At 18, he has dominated junior racing to such an extent he rarely has been challenged late in a race.

He said it will not happen again. Even upright, he still beat Britons Darren Campbell, who took the bronze, and Dwain Chambers, who also clocked 10.08.

Michael's judgment
For Michael Johnson, Maurice Greene might as well have retired last year.

Greene crashed out of the semifinal of the 100 Monday with a left quad injury, unable to defend his title. He had struggled all season.

"He's been finished since last year,'' Johnson wrote. "He will never get back to his best form.''

Johnson, who won nine golds in the 200, 400 and 1,600 relay at the world championships, is writing a daily column for the Parisian sports daily L'Equipe.

He did grant that Greene had dominated sprinting like no one since Carl Lewis.

Johnson held out more hope for world record holder Tim Montgomery, who finished fifth in the final. But there too, changes were in order.

"He has to take care of his coaching problem if he wants to keep his reputation as a world record holder intact,'' he said.

Clashing doubles
After beating his hero Haile Gebrselassie in the 10,000 meters, Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele is now seeking to achieve something the greatest distance runner in history has been unable to achieve -- a 10,000-5,000 double.

At the same time, Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj will be seeking to achieve his unique piece of world championship history -- a 1,500-5000 double.

Bekele already proved he has the finishing kick to throw off the best in the 10,000 but is untested against the power of El Guerrouj.

The question remains whether El Guerrouj will have the stamina to keep up in the later stages of the 5,000. He was beaten into second place by Kenya's Stephen Cherono in Ostrava.