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Marion Jones

 
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Marion Jones

Jones, Marion
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Marion Jones won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but was stripped of them after confessing to taking steroids.

Born October 12, 1975, in Los Angeles, CA, she holds dual citizenship from the USA and Belize (where her family is from) and she marked her victories with the flags of both nations.

Excelling in both basketball and athletics (she was a participant in the 1992 World Junior Championships), Jones focused on basketball, playing on the North Carolina team that won the NCAA Women's Championship in 1994. When Jones lost a spot on the 1996 Olympic team because of an injury, she decided to concentrate on athletics. She immediately won her first major international championships, becoming the 100m World Champion in Athens in 1997, while finishing 10th in the long jump. At the 1999 World Championships, Jones attempted to win four titles, but injured herself in the 200m after a gold in the 100m and a long jump bronze.

In the 2000 Olympics, Jones won both the 100m and 200m races, and placed third in the long jump. She won another gold medal in a relay event.

At the 2001 World Championships, she won the 200m and 4x100m gold medals.

In 2003, Jones gave birth to a son, Tim Jr., named after his father Tim Montgomery, who broke the 100m World Record in 2002. Because of her pregnancy, Jones missed the 2003 World Championships; even though was was considered a front-runner for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, she did not win any medals.

In 2007, Jones admitted that she had been taking performance-enhancing drugs prior to the 2000 Olympics. She was stripped of all medals back to those Olympics games. She retired from competitive sports soon after.

Last updated: March 13, 2009.

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Black Biography:

Marion Jones

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track & field athlete

Personal Information

Born Marion Lois Jones October 12, 1975 in Los Angeles; mother Marion Toler, brother Albert Kelly; dual citizenship with Belize; married C.J. Hunter (shot putter) October 3, 1998.
Education: Rio Mesa High School, Oxnard, CA 1991; Thousand Oaks High School, CA, 1993; University of North Carolina, B.A., Journalism/Mass Communications, 1997.

Career

Sprinter, long jumper. Won the 100m and 200m at California state meet, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, long jump, 1993; won 100m at World Championship (10.83 seconds); second leg on gold medal 4x100m relay, ranked #1 in world at 100m and 200m, #2 in U.S. in long jump, 1997; won 400m at Mt. SAC (50.36 seconds); won 100m (10.72 seconds), 200m (22.24 seconds), long jump (23-8) at USA Championships; won 100m (10.90 seconds) and 200m (21.80 seconds) at Goodwill Games; won 100m (10.83 seconds) and long jump (23-4.75) at Grand Prix Final; won 100m (10.65 seconds, her personal best) and 200m (21.62 seconds, her personal best) at World Cup; unprecedented consistency with 17 of 19 100m races under 10.90 seconds; ranked #1 in world in 100m, 200m, long jump, 1998.

Life's Work

Marion Jones is in perpetual motion, and yet she makes excellence seem easy. After all, she was considered the number one female athlete in track and field by the time she was 22-years-old, and that in only her first year of competition. From the basketball court to the track and the long jump pit, Jones has sailed to success in all of her athletic endeavors.

Marion Jones was born on October 12, 1975 in Los Angeles. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother, Marion Toler, a medical-legal transcriptionist who had immigrated to the United States from Belize. As a child living in Thousand Oaks, CA, Jones participated in many sports. "I've always liked to do a lot of things," she told Frank Litsky of the New York Times. "As a kid, I did ballet and tap dancing and soccer and baseball and tee ball [and gymnastics]." She began participating in organized track at age seven and basketball in the sixth grade.

Jones was first attracted to running and jumping while watching track superstars Evelyn Ashford, Carl Lewis, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee on television as they competed in the 1984 Olympics. It was Florence Griffith Joyner, though, who truly motivated her. "After seeing Flo-Jo in Seoul," Jones told Jon Hendershott of Track & Field News, "I wrote on a blackboard, `I want to be an Olympic champion.' I just always believed it was in my future to compete in the Olympics." Even as a small child, she knew she would be someone special. "I knew from about age five that someday I would do something special in life. I had no idea what or when, but I just knew I would."

Jones first attracted the attention of the sports world when, as a freshman at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, CA, she won the state track titles in the 100- and 200-meter events. In 1991, as a sophomore, she ran the fourth-fastest 200-meter time recorded that year by any woman in the country. As a junior, she missed the cutoff for the 200-meter Olympic team by just .07 seconds. By the time she graduated from high school in June of 1993, her stellar performances included an undefeated record in high school competition after her freshman year and the national high school record in the 200-meter sprint, which she still holds. In recognition of her achievements she received two High School Athlete of the Year awards, the only athlete to win the award more than once, and many heralded her as one of the greatest female high school track and field athletes ever.

Starred on the Basketball Court

But the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long jump were not the only venues where Marion Jones let her athleticism and drive shine. In addition to her success at the track, Jones also starred as the shooting guard on the Rio Mesa Spartans varsity basketball team, averaging 24.6 points per game, and she was named California Division I Player of the Year during her senior year.

When she entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Jones became determined to participate in both basketball and track rather than focus all of her energies on one sport. Recruited on a basketball scholarship in 1993, she switched to point guard on the basketball court, started as a freshman, and immediately helped to lead the Tar Heels to the 1994 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women's Championship title. She also set the Atlantic Coast Conference record for steals by a freshman (111) and the UNC record for points by a freshman (494). As a sophomore she continued her success, becoming the first player in UNC women's basketball history to score 1,000 points by her sophomore season.

Despite the concerns regarding her dual commitments outside of the classroom, Jones's times indicated that she could handle the challenge: at the 1994 NCAA track and field championships, just five weeks after the close of the basketball season, she placed second in the long jump and became an All-American in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, the long jump, and the 4 x 100-meter relay. However, Jones did not meld well into North Carolina's track program, and she failed to progress as a sprinter or jumper. With sights still set on competing in the Olympics in 1996, Jones planned to focus solely on track during the 1995-1996 season. However, her hopes were dashed when she broke a bone in her left foot in August of 1995 while playing basketball in the World University Games. Not only did she miss the entire basketball season, but the injury also severely curtailed her Olympic training schedule. When she broke the bone again in December of 1995, her aspirations for the 1996 Olympics were effectively broken as well.

Jones did ultimately return for the 1996-1997 basketball season and helped her team advance to the regional semifinals in the NCAA post-season tournament, a feat that her teammates had not been able to accomplish in their season without her. In all, she helped the Tar Heels to win three Atlantic Coast Conference championships and a national title. She graduated from North Carolina in May of 1997 with a degree in journalism and mass communications and chose to forego her remaining year of athletic eligibility. In retrospect, Jones indicated to Dick Patrick of USA Today, "I went into Carolina wanting to succeed in both sports. After my sophomore year and not doing as well as I wanted in track, I guess I unconsciously put a lot more emphasis on basketball. Then came the injuries. I never had a chance to see what I could do at Carolina in track." Nor had she ever concentrated her pre-season training on track; rather, she was running on the basketball court instead. "I went right into track each spring using just my basketball training," Jones explained to Hendershott, "so I never had a real background for track."

Re-dedicated Energies to Track

After graduation, though, Jones' athletic career took a turn as she decided to focus solely on track, foregoing potential opportunities to play in one of the two new women's professional basketball leagues. Watching fiancé, and now husband, C.J. Hunter put the shot at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics certainly helped to trigger Jones' renewed concentration on track, for she remained convinced of her own Olympic potential. Sure only of her commitment to track, Jones struggled with how to pursue her dream. According to her current coach, Trevor Graham, a Jamaican track star himself, "I was working [at St. Augustine's track in Raleigh, NC] and C.J. asked me if I could come over and help her with her technique a bit. I walked over and tried to show her different things. Then C.J. said, `She's all yours. You go ahead. She has learned so much more in five minutes than what she has learned all of her life. Go ahead, she's yours.'" From that brief interchange emerged the successful partnership between Graham and Jones.

Jones' determination and her work with Graham quickly paid dividends. After just three months of training consistently, she captured the 100-meter title at the 1997 USA Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis, IN with a time of 10.90 seconds. At the same meet she also dethroned Olympic great Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the long jump, becoming the first woman in nine years to win both events at this meet. The meet not only thrust Jones back into the limelight, but the contacts that she fostered there also indelibly marked her. Most importantly Jones was overwhelmed by Joyner-Kersee's response to her. "I heard nothing but nice words from her," Jones told Track & Field News. "She's even askedto help me with the long jumpI really learned a lot about the sport from my relationship with her."

Jones continued her success that year by winning the 100-meter sprint and helping to set a new American record as part of the 4 x 100-meter relay team at the World Championships in Athens, Greece, making her the only athlete to win two gold medals there. She further set a meet record in the 100-meter sprint at a competition in Berlin in August. By the end of 1997, she had won all five of the 200-meter races she contested and had received numerous accolades from sports writers worldwide. As the culmination of her phenomenal season, Track and Field News bestowed her with the prestigious recognition of Female Athlete of the Year, and that in only her first season on the European circuit. It appeared that Jones had not lost a step during the years she had devoted to basketball.

Jones started the 1998 season stronger than ever before: without the dual competing demands of school and basketball, she was in the best track shape of her life. This momentum propelled her right back into the spotlight in which she had shone the previous year. She quickly established a new American record in the 60-meter sprint (6.95 seconds) at the Gunma International competition in Japan in March of 1998, anchored the Nike International team to a new American record in the 4 x 200-meter relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia in April (1:29:64 minutes), and became the second fastest woman in the world behind Florence Griffith Joyner when she ran 10.71 seconds in the 100-meter sprint at a meet in Chengdu, China in May. She continued to race to success at the USA Outdoor Championships in New Orleans, winning the 100-meter, 200-meter, and long jump to become the first woman since 1948 to win all three events at this meet. And the results continued to pour in: Goodwill Games records en route to top finishes both in the 100-meter and 200-meter events in July; completion of the sweep of the 100-meter event in all Golden League events that season with a victory at the Grand Prix Finals in Moscow in September; and meet records established in the 100-meter (10.65 seconds) and 200-meter (21.62 seconds) at the World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa in September. The only blemish on her record was her loss to Germany's Heike Drechsler in the long jump finals, breaking her streak of 37 consecutive first-place finishes in sprint and long jump finals at the World Cup. Her dominance in sprints, long jump, and as a member of the relay team invited comparisons to Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens, whose own careers had been marked by their versatility and excellence in those events. Once again, she was named Track and Field News'; top woman athlete.

By all accounts, Jones has pumped new life into track and field in the United States, where interest and attendance have been dropping. Even more, says fellow competitor Zundra Feagin-Alexander, "she's stepped into the void that people like Flo-Jo left. She's showing the other women that you can be great. She's an inspiration." Jones herself recognizes the importance of her accomplishments both for female athletes and for the sport of track and field in general. As she explained to Track & Field News, "I feel I'm helping all women athletes improve. I love the idea that they're readjusting to my level. I want women to see that such high goals are real and attainable." In addition, she told Alpheus Finlayson, "I hope to bring a level of awareness to the public in the U.S. that we are athletes just like the NBA, NFL, NHL stars and deserve to be recognized."

Analyzed Elements Behind Her Success

Certainly many explanations lie behind Marion Jones' greatness. Her coach is quick to illuminate her all-consuming dedication to her training and her sport. "Marion literally never has missed a day of practice," noted Graham in an interview with Hendershott. "And she is never late," not even on the morning before surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. Her "secret," commented Hendershott, is that "beneath her radiant smile and outgoing manner is a relentless drive to succeed, a white-hot intensity to learn just how good she can become." Towards this end Jones trains only with men, pushing herself to compete at their level. "I was a tomboy," Jones explained. "I always ran around with my brother and his friends. So from a very young age, I knew that I had to work a bit harder just to keep up with them, let alone ever beat them. I guess that drive became imbedded in me." Graham further credits Jones' success to her ability to focus. As he told Hendershott, "She grasps what I'm trying to teach her. She knows how to run a certain time, how much effort to put into a race to run a time like 10.70."

Ultimately, Jones' greatest motivation comes from within. Her agent, Charley Wells, summarized her success in this way, "Marion never takes anything for granted, on the track or off." Jones further described herself to Hendershott in this way: "As a competitor I've always found a challenge for myself and then worked to get the very best out of myself so I can achieve that goal. But in general, I always just want to run faster or jump farther in a competition than I did in the one before." As she discussed in another interview with Track and Field News, "[O]ne of the things that attracted me to this sport so much is that everything is on me. If I don't win the race, some athletes can blame the coach; but ultimately it comes down to you."

What lies in store next for this track superstar? "I want to achieve the things I've dreamed all my life," Jones matter-of-factly declared in an interview with Jere Longman of the New York Times. "I want to be world champion, an Olympic gold medallist, and a world record-holder. I plan to be around until I achieve all those." Jones passed on her first offer for the Olympics, an alternate spot on the 1992 4 x 100-meter relay team when she was only 15-years-old. "Looking at the big picture, I didn't want to rush things," she said, and instead opted to pursue additional math courses during the summer. Her goal this time, lofty as always, is to win four gold medals at the 1999 World Championships and to win five gold medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, in the 100-meter, 200-meter, long jump, 4 x 100-meter relay, and 4 x 400-meter relay. Track and field pundits even believe that Jones might be the person capable of breaking the world records in the 100-meter (10.49 seconds) and the 200-meter (21.34 seconds) sprints. Given her talent and her inner fire, these goals all seem within the realm of possibility.

Awards

High School Athlete of the Year, 1991, 1992 ; holds national high school record in the 200m; California Division I Player of the Year, basketball, 1991; ranked #1 in the world at 100m and 200m races by Track & Field News, 1997; Woman of the Year, Track & Field News, 1997; ranked #1 in world at 100m, 200m, and long jump by Track & Field News, 1998; Athlete of the Year, Track & Field News, 1998; Owens Awards, Outstanding U.S. Female Track and Field Athlete, 1998; International Amateur Athletic Federation Athlete of the Year, 1997, 1998.

Further Reading

Periodicals

  • CNN/Sports Illustrated, August 13, 1998; September 6, 1998; September 10, 1998; September 11, 1998.
  • Just Sports for Women, 1998.
  • Newsweek, August 3, 1998.
  • New York Times, May 29, 1991, p. B10; February 17, 1995, p. B11; June 16, 1997, p. C10; August 4, 1997, p. C1; August 12, 1997, p. B15.
  • Track & Field News, January 1998, pp. 4-6; July 1998, p. 53; January 1999, pp. 32-35.
  • USA Today, July 31, 1997, p. C3.
  • Washington Post, August 4, 1997, p. D1.
Other
  • International Amateur Athletic Federation Press Release.

— Lisa S. Weitzman

Wikipedia:

Marion Jones

Top
Marion Jones
M Jones crop.jpg
Nationality: American
Distance(s): 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump
Date of birth: 12 October 1975 (1975-10-12) (age 34)
Place of birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight: 68 kg (150 lb)
Medal record
Competitor for  United States
Women's athletics
Olympic Games
World Championships
Bronze 1999 Seville Long Jump
Gold 1999 Seville 100 m
Gold 1997 Athens 100 m
Gold 1997 Athens 4x100 m Relay

Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is a former world champion track and field athlete. She won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia but has since agreed to forfeit all medals and prizes dating back to September 2000 after admitting that she took performance-enhancing drugs.[1][2]

In October 2007, Jones admitted taking steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics and acknowledged that she had, in fact, lied when she previously denied steroid use in statements to the press, to various sports agencies, and—most significantly—to two grand juries. One was impaneled to investigate the BALCO "designer steroid" ring, and the other was impaneled to investigate a check fraud ring involving many of the same parties from the BALCO case. As a result of these admissions, Jones accepted a two-year suspension from track and field competition, and announced her retirement from track and field on October 5, 2007.[3]

The United States Anti-Doping Agency stated that the sanction "also requires disqualification of all her competitive results obtained after September 1, 2000, and forfeiture of all medals, results, points and prizes". On October 5, 2007, Jones formally pled guilty to lying to federal agents in the BALCO steroid investigation in the U.S. District Court. On January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced to 6 months in jail.[4] She began her sentence on March 7, 2008[5] and was released on September 5, 2008.[6]

At the time of her admission and subsequent guilty plea, Marion Jones was one of the most famous people to be linked to the BALCO investigation.[4] 41 days later, Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and four counts of perjury linked to his own testimony before the BALCO Grand Jury in December 2003.[7]

Contents

Personal life

Jones was born to Marion (who is Belizean) and George Jones (who is African American) in Los Angeles, California. She holds dual citizenship with the United States and Belize (her mother's home country).[8] Her parents split when she was very young, and Jones' mother remarried a retired postal worker, Ira Toler, three years later; Toler became a stay-at-home dad to Jones and her older half-brother, Albert Kelly, until his sudden death in 1987.[9] Jones turned to sports--running, pickup basketball games, and anything else her brother Albert was doing athletically--as an outlet for her grief,[9] and by the age of 15 she was routinely dominating California high school athletics both on the track and the basketball courts.

Jones is a 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While there, she met and began dating one of the track coaches, shot putter C. J. Hunter. Hunter was forced to resign his position at UNC due to university rules prohibiting coach/athlete dating. Jones and Hunter were married October 3, 1998, and trained for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics with their new athletic coach Trevor Graham. Graham would later gain notoriety for his role in providing both athletes with Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) designer steroids ("The Cream", "The Clear"), undetectable at the time, as well as providing a sample of BALCO's most successful product ("The Clear") to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), where it was identified as tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) and a detection method was developed.[10]

In the run-up to the 2000 Olympics, all eyes were on Marion Jones, who had announced at a press conference during her pre-Olympic book-signing tour that she intended to win gold medals in all five of her competition events at Sydney. Lost in the hoopla and the publicity was a low-key announcement that Jones' husband C. J. Hunter had quietly withdrawn from the Shot Put competition due to a knee injury, though he was allowed to keep his coaching credentials and attend the games to support his wife. However, just hours after Marion Jones won her first of the planned five golds, the IOC announced that Hunter had failed no fewer than four pre-Olympic drug tests, testing positive each time for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone. Hunter was immediately suspended from taking any role at the Sydney games, and he was ordered to surrender his on-field coaching credentials. At a press conference where Hunter broke down in tears as a subdued Marion Jones sat by his side, Hunter denied taking any performance enhancing drugs at all, much less the easily-detected nandrolone (which showed up in all four tests in amounts over 1000 times normal levels);[11] Victor Conte of BALCO, who was regularly supplying "nutritional supplements" to Graham's athletes, blamed the test results on "an iron supplement" that contained nandrolone precursors[8] and tied previous positive nandrolone tests from Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey and British sprinter Linford Christie to the same supplement.[11] As late as 2004, Hunter was still denying the charges and was attempting to gain access to the results to see if they could be analyzed further.[12] Jones would later write in her autobiography, Marion Jones: Life in the Fast Lane, that Hunter's positive drug tests hurt their marriage and her image as a drug-free athlete. The couple divorced in 2002.

On June 28, 2003, Jones gave birth to a son (Tim Montgomery Jr.) with then-boyfriend Tim Montgomery, a world class sprinter himself. Because of her pregnancy, Jones missed the 2003 World Championships, but spent a year preparing for the 2004 Olympics. Montgomery, who did not qualify for the 2004 Olympic Track and Field team due to poor performance, was charged by USADA, as part of the investigation into the BALCO doping scandal, with receiving and using banned performance enhancing drugs and sought a four-year suspension for Montgomery. Montgomery fought the ban but lost the appeal on December 13, 2005, receiving a two-year ban from track and field competition; the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) also stripped Montgomery of all race results, records, medals, etc., from March 31, 2001 onward. Montgomery later announced his retirement. The investigation into Montgomery's illegal substance use once more called into question Marion Jones' own protests about not using steroids and never having been tested positive for steroids, especially in light of former trainer Trevor Graham's increasingly visible role in the BALCO case.

On February 24, 2007, Marion Jones married Bajan sprinter and 2000 Olympic medalist (bronze, 100 m sprint) Obadele Thompson.[13] Their first child together was born in July 2007.[14] As of 2009, she is currently pregnant with her third child.

Sports career

In high school, Jones won the California state championship in the 100 m sprint four years in a row, representing Rio Mesa and Thousand Oaks high schools. She was successfully defended by attorney Johnnie Cochran on charges of doping during her high school track career.[15]

She invited to participate in the 1992 Olympic trials, and, after her showing in the 200 meters finals, would have made the team as an alternate in the 4×100 meters relay, but she declined the invitation. After winning further statewide sprint titles, she accepted a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina in basketball, where she helped the team win the NCAA championship in her freshman year. Jones "red shirted" her 1996 basketball season to concentrate on track. After Jones lost her spot on the 1996 Olympic team because of an injury, she decided to concentrate on track and field.

Marion Jones (far left) during the 1999 World Championships

She excelled at her first major international competition, winning the 100 m sprint at the 1997 World Championships in Athens, while finishing 10th in the long jump. At the 1999 World Championships, Jones attempted to win four titles, but injured herself in the 200 m after a gold in the 100 m and a long jump bronze.

Then in Sydney, Jones told the press that she was aiming for five gold medals. As it was considered a possibility by fans and pundits alike, she was a media darling during the Olympics. However, she finished with three golds and two bronzes, still an astonishing feat which had never been achieved by a female athlete before. She was later stripped of these medals after admitting that she used performance-enhancing drugs at the time. Her ex-husband Hunter, an Olympic shot-putter and confessed steroid user, testified under oath that he had seen her inject drugs into her stomach in the Olympic Village in Sydney, and her coach Trevor Graham was involved in a major drug scandal that broke in 2005, which implicated baseball player Barry Bonds, sprinters Tim Montgomery, Chryste Gaines, Kelli White, and others, many of whom admitted to using illegal drugs while competing. Jones vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs until her confession in 2007.

A dominant force in women's sprinting, Jones was upset in the 100 m sprint at the 2001 World Championships, as Ukrainian Zhanna Pintusevich-Block beat her for her first loss in the event in six years; Pintusevich-Block was one of the names revealed by Victor Conte during the BALCO scandals. Jones, however, did claim the gold in both the 200 m and 4x100 m relay.

On her 2004 Olympics experience, Jones said "It's extremely disappointing, words can't put it into perspective."[16] She came in fifth in the Long Jump and competed in the women's 4x100 m relay where they swept past the competition in the preliminaries only to miss a baton pass in the final race. Jones promised that her latest defeat would not be the end of her Olympic efforts, and reasserted in May 2005 that winning a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics remained her "ultimate goal."

May 2006 saw Jones run 11.06 at altitude but into a headwind in her season debut and beat Veronica Campbell and Lauryn Williams in subsequent 100m events. By July 8, 2006, Jones appeared to be in top form; she won the 100 m sprint at Gaz de France with a time of 10.93 seconds. It was her fastest time in almost four years. Three days later, Jones once more improved on her seasonal best time at the Rome IIAF Golden League (10.91 seconds), but lost to Jamaica's Sherone Simpson, who clocked 10.87.

In November 2009, it was reported that Jones was working out for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA. She had previously played basketball while in college at the University of North Carolina, playing on the team that won a national championship in 1994. Her number 20 jersey had been honored by the school and hangs in Carmichael Auditorium. She had previously been selected in the 3rd round of the 2003 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury.[17]


Personal bests

Date Event Venue Performance
September 12, 1998 100 m Johannesburg, South Africa 10.65A
August 22, 1999 100 m Seville, Spain 10.70
September 11, 1998 200 m Johannesburg, Dublin Ireland 21.62A
August 13, 1997 200 m Zürich, Switzerland 21.76
April 22, 2001 300 m Walnut, California 35.68
April 16, 2000 400 m Walnut, California 49.59
May 31, 1998 Long Jump Eugene, Oregon 7.31 (23' 11¾")

Individual achievements

Year Meeting Venue Place Event Result
1992 IAAF World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 5th 100 m
7th 200 m
1997 IAAF World Championships Athens, Greece 1st 100 m 10.83
10th Long Jump
1998 IAAF World Cup Johannesburg, South Africa 1st 100 m 10.65A
1st 200 m 21.62A
2nd Long Jump 7.00A (22' 11¾")
1999 IAAF World Championships Sevilla, Spain 1st 100 m 10.70
3rd Long Jump 6.83 (22 ft 5 in)
2000 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia dq 100 m 10.75
dq 200 m 21.84
dq Long Jump 6.92 (22' 8½")
2001 IAAF World Championships Edmonton, Canada dq 100 m 10.85
dq 200 m 22.39
2002 IAAF World Cup Madrid, Spain dq 100 m 10.90
  • The IOC and IAAF stripped Jones of all medals, points and results received after September 1, 2000 after Jones admitted to using steroids prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics.[18]

Top Speed film

Marion Jones was showcased in the film Top Speed, which documents her talent and skill within sprinting. Directed by Greg MacGillivray and shot in IMAX format, it covers details from races to any mistakes she has made within her performances, Marion is profiled amongst other speed specialists like racing driver Lucas Luhr, mountain biker Marla Streb, and Stephen Murkett, one of the designers of the Porsche Cayenne.

Use of illicit performance enhancing drugs

Throughout her entire athletic career—even in high school—Marion Jones had been accused, either outright or by implication, of taking performance enhancing drugs, a common allegation surrounding athletes involved in the sports under the "Track and Field" umbrella. Until 2007, Jones routinely denied—in almost every way possible and in almost any venue where the question arose—ever being involved with performance enhancers in any way, shape, or form. One of Jones's frequent statements in her own defense was that she had never tested positive for performance enhancing substances; in her autobiography, she blamed the 2002 breakup of her marriage to C.J. Hunter in part on the fact that Hunter had tested positive for steroids four times before the 2000 Olympics, tainting her own drug-free image. However, the rumors and accusations that started when Jones missed a random drug test in high school in the early 1990s (Jones claimed she never received the letter notifying her of the required test; attorney Johnnie Cochran successfully got the four-year ban from track and field competition, the penalty for missing a random drug test, overturned)[8] continued to follow her through two Olympiads and several championship meets. Soon, a pattern of Jones choosing to train with both coaches and athletes who were also being dogged by rumors and accusations of performance enhancement drugs began to emerge.

Tainted by association

For years, Jones was coached by controversial speed coach Trevor Graham, whose Sprint Capitol running organization in North Carolina has been wracked by drug suspensions and who himself was being investigated by a federal grand jury. For a time, Jones also worked out with renegade Canadian coach Charlie Francis, who admitted providing drugs to Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter who tested positive for steroids after setting a world record in the 100 m sprint at the 1988 Games in Seoul.[19] She then worked with Steven Riddick, who has coached other athletes involved in drug scandals, including Tim Montgomery, Myriam Léonie Mani, and Aziz Zakari.

The BALCO investigation

On December 3, 2004, Victor Conte, the founder of BALCO, appeared in an interview with Martin Bashir on ABC's 20/20. In the interview, Conte told a national audience that he had personally given Jones five different illegal performance enhancing drugs before, during and after the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In the course of investigative research, San Francisco based reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada reported Jones had received banned drugs from BALCO, citing documentary evidence and testimony from Jones's ex-husband C.J. Hunter, who claims to have seen Jones inject herself in the stomach with the steroids.[20]

According to Hunter's 2004 testimony before a federal grand jury, Jones' use of banned drugs began well before Sydney.[19] Hunter told the investigators that Jones first obtained EPO from Graham, who Hunter said had a Mexican connection for the drug. Later, Hunter said, Graham met Conte, who began providing the coach with BALCO "nutritional supplements", which were actually an experimental class of "designer" steroids said to be undetectable by any drug screening procedures available at the time. Graham then distributed the performance enhancers to Jones and other Sprint Capitol athletes. Still later, Hunter told federal agents, Jones began receiving drugs directly from Conte.

Jones had never failed a drug test using the then-existing testing procedures, and insufficient evidence was found to bring charges regarding other untested performance enhancing drugs.

2006 EPO tests

The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of drug results from the USA Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, IN, reported that on June 23, 2006, an "A" sample of Marion Jones' urine tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO), a banned performance-enhancer. Jones withdrew from the Weltklasse Golden League meet in Switzerland, citing "personal reasons", and once more denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She retained lawyer Howard Jacobs, who has represented many athletes in doping cases, including Tim Montgomery and cyclist Floyd Landis. On September 6, 2006, Jones' lawyers announced that her "B" sample had tested negative, which cleared her from the doping allegations.[21]

Admission of perjury during BALCO investigation

On October 5, 2007, Jones admitted to lying to federal agents about her use of steroids prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics and pled guilty at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (in White Plains).[4] She confessed to Judge Kenneth Karas that she had made false statements regarding the BALCO case and a check-fraud case.

She was released on her own recognizance but was required to surrender both her U.S. and Belizean passports, pending sentencing in January. Although a maximum sentence of five years could be imposed, the prosecution has recommended no more than six months as part of Jones' plea bargain.[22]

In the BALCO case, she had denied to federal agents her use of the steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone, known as "The Clear", or "THG", from 1999, but claimed she was given the impression she was taking a flaxseed oil supplement for two years while coach Trevor Graham supplied her with the substance. In a published letter, Jones said she had used steroids until she stopped training with Graham at the end of 2002. She said she lied when federal agents questioned her in 2003 because she panicked when they presented her with a sample of "The Clear".[23]

In a press conference on the steps of the courthouse following her October 5 guilty plea, the disgraced athlete tearfully apologized, saying "...with a great amount of shame...I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust...and you have the right to be angry with me... I have let my country down and I have let myself down."[22]

USOC demands return of Olympic medals

Peter Ueberroth, Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee, reacted to the news of Jones' confession and guilty plea on perjury charges by issuing a statement calling on Jones to "immediately step forward and return the Olympic medals she won while competing in violation of the rules". Ueberroth added that her admission "is long overdue and underscores the shame and dishonor that are inherent with cheating." IAAF president Lamine Diack said in a statement that, "Marion Jones will be remembered as one of the biggest frauds in sporting history."[24]

On October 8, 2007, a source confirmed that Marion Jones surrendered her five medals from the 2000 Summer Olympics.[2] On the same day, Peter Ueberroth said that all the relay medals should be returned,[25] and on April 10, 2008 the IOC voted to strip Jones' relay teammates of their medals, as well.[26] Jones was ordered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to forfeit all awards and medals received after September 1, 2000. The IOC has yet to determine what will be done with the forfeited medals as of April 10, 2008 (2008 -04-10), pending the conclusion of the BALCO investigation.

Formal IOC disqualification

On December 12, 2007, the International Olympic Committee formally stripped Jones of all 5 Olympic medals dating back to September, 2000, and banned her from attending the 2008 Summer Olympics in any capacity.[27] The IOC action also officially disqualified Jones from her fifth place finish in the Long Jump at the 2004 Olympics.[27]

On October 28, 2008, Marion Jones was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and said she would have won gold at the Sydney Olympics without the drugs that led to her disgrace.[28]

Criminal sentencing, perjury case

On January 11, 2008, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Jones to six months in prison and 200 hours of community service for perjury relating to her using of steroids and for a check-fraud scam. She was also sentenced to two years probation following her prison term.[29] Jones reported to the Federal Medical Center-Carswell prison facility in Fort Worth, Texas on March 7, 2008 and was assigned Federal Bureau of Prisons Register no. 84868-054.[5][30] She was released from prison on September 5, 2008.[31]

Check-counterfeiting scandal

In conjunction with the performance enhancing drugs probe, Marion Jones was also under investigation for her involvement in a check-counterfeiting scheme that had already been linked to her former coach, Steven Riddick, her sports agent Charles Wells, and her ex-boyfriend, Tim Montgomery.

Financial troubles

Seven years after winning a women's record five Olympic track and field medals and receiving multi-million dollar endorsement deals, Marion Jones was broke.[32] According to the Associated Press, Jones is heavily in debt and fighting off court judgments, according to recent court records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. In 2006, a bank foreclosed on her $2.5-million mansion near Chapel Hill, N.C., where Michael Jordan was a neighbor. She was also forced to sell two other properties, including her mother's house, to raise money. In her prime, Jones was one of track's first female sports millionaires, typically earning between $70,000 and $80,000 a race, plus at least another $1 million from race bonuses and endorsement deals.[33]

Alleged involvement in check fraud

In July 2006, Jones was linked to a check-counterfeiting scheme that led to criminal charges against her coach and ex-boyfriend Montgomery.[34] Documents showed that a $25,000 check made out to Jones was deposited in her bank account as part of the alleged multimillion-dollar scheme.[35] Prosecutors allege that funds were sent to Jones' track coach, Steven Riddick, in Virginia, then funneled back to New York through a network of "friends, relatives and associates."[36] Riddick was arrested in February on money-laundering charges. According to the indictment and subsequent documents filed with the court, the link to Jones was made through one of Riddick's business partners, Nathaniel Alexander.

Admission of perjury during check fraud investigation

On October 5, 2007, Jones pled guilty to making false statements to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky leading the ongoing BALCO investigation in California. Jones claimed she had never taken performance-enhancing drugs. "That was a lie, your honor," she said from the defense table. The federal government, through grand juries, had been investigating steroid abuse since 2003.

Jones also pled guilty to making false statements about her knowledge of a check-cashing scheme to New York U.S. Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Erik Rosenblatt, who has been leading a broad financial investigation that has already convicted the father of Jones's child, former world record holder and "World's Fastest Man" Tim Montgomery, sports agent Charles Wells, and her coach, 1976 Olympic gold medalist Steven Riddick.

Criminal sentencing, check fraud case

On January 11, 2008, Marion Jones was sentenced to 6 months in prison for perjury concerning her involvement in the check fraud case and her use of performance enhancing drugs. She was ordered to surrender on March 11 to begin her jail term. Jones reported to the Federal Medical Center, Carswell prison facility in Fort Worth, Texas on March 7, 2008 and was assigned Federal Bureau of Prisons register no. 84868-054.[5] She was released from prison on September 5, 2008.[31]

In legal filings prior to sentencing, lawyers for the defense requested US District Judge Kenneth Karas limit her penalty to probation and community service. Part of their argument was that Ms. Jones had been punished enough by apologizing publicly, retiring from track & field, and relinquishing her five Olympic medals. Lawyers for the prosecution had suggested any sentence between probation and six months would be fair (with the maximum penalty being five years in prison). Judge Karas sought advice as to whether he could go beyond the six-month sentence suggested by the prosecution.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Karas admonished Jones in the courtroom, stating that she knew what she was doing and would be punished accordingly.[37] "The offences here are serious. They each involve lies made three years apart," said Judge Karas, also adding that Jones' actions were "not a one-off mistake... but a repetition in an attempt to break the law."[38]

Notes

  1. ^ "Jones stripped of Olympic medals". BBC News. December 12, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/7136016.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-12. 
  2. ^ a b Jones Returns 2000 Olympic Medals, Channel4.com; retrieved October 8, 2007.
  3. ^ Reuters (October 5, 2007). "Jones Pleads Guilty In Steroid Case". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/sports/sports-athletics-jones.html. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
  4. ^ a b c Schmidt, Michael S. and Lynn Zinser (October 5, 2007). "Jones Pleads Guilty to Lying About Drugs". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/sports/othersports/05cnd-balco.html?hp. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
  5. ^ a b c "Disgraced sprinter Jones reports to jail". AFP. March 7, 2008. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j45h2TXIPAcsLvMwWvwlDUeXuKVQ. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  6. ^ "Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones freed from prison". AFP. September 5, 2008. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5giAWAuUgC5NXiBI_iU5Q7D5glGXQD930NJSO0. Retrieved 2008-09-05. 
  7. ^ Michael S. Schmidt (2007). "Barry Bonds Is Indicted for Perjury Tied to Drug Case". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/sports/baseball/15cnd-bonds.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2007-11-15. 
  8. ^ a b c Rowen, Beth; Ross, Shmuel; Olson, Liz (2007). ""Marion Jones: Fastest Woman on Earth"". InfoPlease Database. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/marionjones1.html. Retrieved 2008-02-10. 
  9. ^ a b Hersh, Philip (2000-09-25). ""TAKE FIVE: Marion Jones goes for five gold medals in the 2000 Olympics"". The Sporting News, as compiled by Highbeam Encyclopedia. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-65730482.html. Retrieved 2008-02-10. 
  10. ^ ""I was THG whistleblower, admits Gatlin coach"". ABC Sports. August 23, 2004. http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200408/s1182730.htm. 
  11. ^ a b ""IOC chief says Hunter failed four drug tests"". Associated Press. 2000-09-25. http://static.espn.go.com/oly/summer00/news/2000/0925/777764.html. Retrieved 2008-02-10. 
  12. ^ Webby, Sean (August 28, 2004). "Hunter: 'It's been going on for a long, long time'". Black Athlete Sports Network. http://www.blackathlete.com/Track&Field/index.shtml. Retrieved 2007-11-16. 
  13. ^ Cherry, Gene (March 7, 2007). "Sprinters Jones and Thompson married, says minister". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSL0725699120070307. 
  14. ^ "CNN Newsroom: Jones Doping Case; Tax Standoff Ends; Myanmar Crackdown". CNN Transcripts. October 5, 2007. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/05/cnr.06.html. 
  15. ^ Patrick, Dick (October 5, 2007). "Until now, Jones had been steadfast in doping denials". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-10-05-jones-analysis_N.htm. 
  16. ^ Reuters (August 27, 2004). "Friday: Bad day for U.S.; new dawn for China". Sports Illustrated: 2004 Olympic Games. sportsillustrated.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/28/bc.olympics/. 
  17. ^ Marion Jones Attempting Comeback as Pro Basketball Player]
  18. ^ Marion Jones returns her five Olympic medals, accepts 2-year ban for doping before 2000 Games
  19. ^ a b Williams, Lance (August 19, 2006). "Sprinter Jones failed drug test: Olympic champ's sample, taken after win at nationals, showed banned substance EPO". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/19/MNGBGKLP8H1.DTL&hw=marion+jones&sn=003&sc=976. 
  20. ^ Fainaru-Wada, M. & Williams L. Game of Shadows Gotham Books, 2006, pp.234–235
  21. ^ sportsillustrated.com, September 6, 2006.
  22. ^ a b "Jones Admits to Doping and Enters Guilty Plea". New York Times Sports Section: B12. October 6, 2007. 
  23. ^ Shipley, Amy Shipley (October 4, 2007). "Marion Jones Admits to Steroid Use". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100401666_pf.html. 
  24. ^ Associated Press, "IAAF decries Jones' tainted legacy", October 8, 2007
  25. ^ Associated Press (October 13, 2007). "Jones's Teammate Braces for Worst". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/sports/othersports/13jones.html?ref=othersports. 
  26. ^ Associated Press (April 10, 2008). "IOC votes to strip Jones' teammates of medals from 2000 Games". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=3339267. 
  27. ^ a b IOC strips Jones of all 5 Olympic medals, Star sprinter admitted to doping during 2000 Summer Olympics in Athens
  28. ^ Daily Telegraph staff (October 30, 2008). "Marion Jones tells Oprah Winfrey: I'd have won without the drugs". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24575085-5001028,00.html. 
  29. ^ Marion Jones Gets Six Months in Jail
  30. ^ "Marion Jones (84868-054)." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on January 9, 2010.
  31. ^ a b KTVU News, Disgraced Olympic Champ Jones Out Of Jail, September 5, 2008
  32. ^ "Former Olympian, track millionaire Jones now broke". CBS Sports. http://cbs.sportsline.com/worldsports/story/10236098. 
  33. ^ "American Olympic sprinter Marion Jones is facing bankruptcy". http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_f5n4msa4p60&show_article=1&cat=0. 
  34. ^ Check connects Marion Jones to case that snared Montgomery
  35. ^ Cleaning woman trusted son to carry on empire, but it wasn't in the cards
  36. ^ Bank records link Marion Jones to money scam, Alleged scheme led to charges against sprinter's track coach, ex-boyfriend
  37. ^ "Six-month jail sentence for Jones". BBC News. January 11, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7182969.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
  38. ^ "Marion Jones jailed for six months". Sydney Morning Herald. January 12, 2008. http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/marion-jones-jailed-for-six-months/2008/01/12/1199988627225.html. Retrieved 2008-01-12. 

References

External links


Awards
Preceded by
Russia Svetlana Masterkova
Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
1997 – 1998
Succeeded by
Romania Gabriela Szabo
Preceded by
France Marie-José Perec
Women's Track & Field ESPY Award
1998 – 2002
Succeeded by
United States Gail Devers
Preceded by
Romania Gabriela Szabo
Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
2000
Succeeded by
United States Stacy Dragila
Preceded by
new award
World Sportswoman of the Year
2000
Succeeded by
Australia Cathy Freeman
Sporting positions
Preceded by
France Marie-José Pérec
Nigeria Mary Onyali
Women's 200 m Best Year Performance
1997 – 1998
Succeeded by
United States Inger Miller
Preceded by
Russia Lyudmila Galkina
Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance
1998
Succeeded by
Brazil Maurren Higa Maggi
Preceded by
United States Inger Miller
Women's 200 m Best Year Performance
2000
Succeeded by
The Bahamas Debbie Ferguson
United States LaTasha Jenkins

 
 
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Quest for the Gold: Sydney 2000 - Track & Field (2000 Sports & Recreation Film)
Quest for the Gold: Sydney 2000 - Olympic Highlights (2000 Sports & Recreation Film)
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