Marion Jones
From Hoopedia
Marion Jones, also known as Marion Jones-Thompson (born October 12, 1975 in Los Angeles, California), is an American former athlete in track and field. She was the winner of five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, which she later relinquished after admitting to steroid use.
In October 2007, Jones admitted to having taken steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. As a result of these admissions, Jones has accepted a two-year suspension. 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, she pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators in the BALCO steroid investigation in the U.S. District Court. She announced her retirement from track and field the same day.
Career
In high school, Jones won the California state championship in the 100 meters four years in a row, representing Rio Mesa and Thousand Oaks high schools. She was successfully defended by lawyer-to-the-stars Johnnie Cochran on charges of doping during her high school track career.
She was invited to participate in the 1992 Olympic trials, and, after her showing in the 200m finals, would have made the team as an alternate in the 4x100m relays, but she refused 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.
She excelled at her first major international competition, winning the 100 meter 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.
In years to come, her victories were tainted by rumors that Jones was using 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 denied using performance-enhancing drugs, until her confession in 2007.
A dominant force in women's sprinting, Jones was upset in the 100 meter 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 200m and 4 x 100m.
On her 2004 Olympics experience, Jones said "It's extremely disappointing, words can't put it into perspective."[6] She came in fifth in the long jump and competed in the women's 4 x 100 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.
As of May 2005, Jones claimed that winning the 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.
On July 8, 2006, Jones won the 100 meter dash at Gaz de France with a 10.93. It was her fastest time in almost four years.
On July 11, 2006, Jones improved her time in the Rome Golden League with a 10.91, but was beaten to 2nd place by Jamaica's Sherone Simpson who clocked 10.87.
Jones was drafted out of UNC by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2003 WNBA Draft in the final round (33rd overall).
