Marion Jones
Encyclopedia
Marion Lois Jones also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is a former world champion track and field athlete
, and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA
. She won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics
in Sydney, Australia, but forfeited all medals and prizes dating back to September 2000 after her October 2007 admission that she took performance-enhancing drugs as far back as the 2000 Summer Olympics, and that she had lied about it to a grand jury
investigating performance-enhancer creations by Victor Conte and the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
(a.k.a. BALCO).
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. 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.
) 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). 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. Jones turned to sports (running, pickup basketball games, and anything else her brother Albert was doing athletically) as an outlet for her grief, 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 put
ter 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" and "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.
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); 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 and tied previous positive nandrolone tests from Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey
and British sprinter Linford Christie
to the same supplement. 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. 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
. Their first child together was born in July 2007. She gave birth to daughter Eva-Marie on June 28, 2009.
in the 100 m sprint
four years in a row, representing Rio Mesa
the first two years and Thousand Oaks high schools
the last two. She was successfully defended by attorney 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 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
.
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." 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.
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
. On March 10, 2010, the Tulsa Shock announced that Jones had signed to play with the team, making the professional minimum (about $35,000) in her first season. Jones made her debut on May 15 when the Tulsa Shock played their inaugural game at the BOK Center
against the Minnesota Lynx
. Jones was waived by the Shock on July 21, 2011.
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 bike
r Marla Streb
, and Stephen Murkett, one of the designers of the Porsche Cayenne
.
successfully got the four-year ban from track and field competition, the penalty for missing a random drug test, overturned) 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.
, 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.
According to Hunter's 2004 testimony before a federal grand jury, Jones' use of banned drugs began well before Sydney. 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.
, 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.
s prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics
and pled guilty at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (in White Plains
). 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 US and Belizean passports, pending sentencing in January. Although a maximum sentence of five years could be imposed, the prosecution recommended no more than six months as part of Jones' plea bargain.
After her legal admission of perjury, Jones held a press conference, where she finally publicly 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 Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
(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 issued by the United States Anti-Doping Agency
, and announced her retirement from track and field on October 5, 2007. She broke down in tears during the press conference as she 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."
The US Anti-Doping Agency stated that their 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 US District Court
. On January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced to 6 months in jail. She began her sentence on March 7, 2008, and was released on September 5, 2008.
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".
, Chairman of the US 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."
On October 8, 2007, a source confirmed that Marion Jones surrendered her five medals from the 2000 Summer Olympics
. On the same day, Peter Ueberroth said that all the relay medals should be returned, and on April 10, 2008, the IOC voted to strip Jones' relay teammates of their medals, as well, though this decision would successfully be appealed by seven of Jones' teammates and overturned in 2010. Jones was ordered by the US 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 , pending the conclusion of the BALCO investigation.
formally stripped Jones of all five Olympic medals dating back to September 2000, and banned her from attending the 2008 Summer Olympics
in any capacity. The IOC action also officially disqualified Jones from her fifth place finish in the Long Jump at the 2004 Summer Olympics
.
On October 28, 2008, Marion Jones was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey
and stated that she would have won gold at the Sydney Olympics without the drugs that led to her disgrace.
relating to her using of steroids and for a check-fraud scam. She was also sentenced to two years probation following her prison 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. She was released from prison on September 5, 2008.
. In 2006, a bank foreclosed on her $2.5-million mansion near Chapel Hill, North Carolina
, 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.
, then funneled back to New York through a network of "friends, relatives and associates." 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.
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 US 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 Steve Riddick.
prison facility in Fort Worth
on March 7 and was assigned Federal Bureau of Prisons
register no. 84868-054. She was released from prison on September 5.
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 and 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. "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."
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
. She won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
in Sydney, Australia, but forfeited all medals and prizes dating back to September 2000 after her October 2007 admission that she took performance-enhancing drugs as far back as the 2000 Summer Olympics, and that she had lied about it to a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
investigating performance-enhancer creations by Victor Conte and the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
(a.k.a. BALCO).
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. 41 days later, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby 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.
Personal life
Jones was born to Marion (who is BelizeanBelizean
Belizean may refer to:* Something of, or related to Belize* A person from Belize, or of Belizean descent. For information about the Belizean people, see Demographics of Belize and Culture of Belize. For specific Belizeans, see List of Belizeans....
) and George Jones (who is African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
) in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. She holds dual citizenship with the United States and Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
(her mother's home
country). 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. Jones turned to sports (running, pickup basketball games, and anything else her brother Albert was doing athletically) as an outlet for her grief, 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
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. While there, she met and began dating one of the track coaches, shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
ter 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
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
with their new athletic coach Trevor Graham
Trevor Graham
Trevor Graham is a Jamaican-born former athletics coach, based in the United States. Following the BALCO scandal, the US Olympic Committee barred him indefinitely from all its training sites as a number of the athletes he was training had tested positive for drug abuse.-Athletics career:Graham was...
. Graham would later gain notoriety for his role in providing both athletes with Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
(BALCO) designer steroids ("The Cream" and "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
United States Anti-Doping Agency
The United States Anti-Doping Agency , is a non-profit organization and the national anti-doping organization for the United States. The organization is charged with managing the anti-doping program for the U.S...
(USADA), where it was identified as tetrahydrogestrinone
Tetrahydrogestrinone
Tetrahydrogestrinone is an anabolic steroid developed by Patrick Arnold. It has affinity to the androgen receptor and the progesterone receptor, but not to the estrogen receptor...
(THG) and a detection method was developed.
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
Nandrolone
Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid that may be present naturally in the human body, albeit in minute quantities of less than 0.4 ng/ml. Nandrolone is most commonly sold commercially as its decanoate ester and less commonly as a phenylpropionate ester...
. 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); 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 and tied previous positive nandrolone tests from Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey
Merlene Ottey
Merlene Joyce Ottey , is a Jamaican-born Slovenian track athlete. Ottey began her career representing Jamaica, but since 2002, has represented Slovenia, where she now resides...
and British sprinter Linford Christie
Linford Christie
Linford Cicero Christie OBE is a former sprinter from the United Kingdom. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games...
to the same supplement. 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. 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
Tim Montgomery
Timothy Montgomery is a former American athlete. In 2005, he was stripped of his records – including a now void 100m world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002 – after being found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs...
, a world class sprinter himself. Because of her pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
, Jones missed the 2003 World Championships, but spent a year preparing for the 2004 Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
. 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
Balco
Balco can refer to:* the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative - a controversial sports medicine/nutrition centre in Burlingame, California.* Balco balcony systems who develops, designs and manufactures balcony systems and glazing solutions....
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
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
sprinter and 2000 Olympic medalist (bronze, 100 m sprint) Obadele Thompson
Obadele Thompson
Obadele Thompson is a sprint athlete from Barbados;. In 2000, he became the first Olympic medalist from Barbados with a bronze medal in the 100m race.-Biography:...
. Their first child together was born in July 2007. She gave birth to daughter Eva-Marie on June 28, 2009.
Track and field
In high school, Jones won the CIF California State MeetCIF California State Meet
The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direct qualification path that can reach the state meet...
in the 100 m sprint
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896...
four years in a row, representing Rio Mesa
Rio Mesa High School
Rio Mesa High School is located in Oxnard, California and is within the Oxnard Union High School District. It serves the Oxnard communities of Northern Oxnard, River Park, Nyeland Acres, and El Rio, as well as the western portion of the city of Camarillo...
the first two years and Thousand Oaks high schools
Thousand Oaks High School
Thousand Oaks High School is a high school established in 1962 and located in Thousand Oaks, California. It is a California Distinguished School, and offers curriculum at all levels for Thousand Oaks students. The mascot is the lancer...
the last two. She was successfully defended by attorney Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O. J...
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 200 meters finals, would have made the team as an alternate in the 4×100 meters relay
4 x 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race...
, but she declined the invitation. After winning further statewide sprint titles, she accepted a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
in basketball
North Carolina Tar Heels
The North Carolina Tar Heels are the athletic teams for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State...
, where she helped the team win the NCAA championship
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
in her freshman year
1994 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1994 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament featured 64 teams for the first time ever. The Final Four consisted of North Carolina, Purdue, Louisiana Tech, and Alabama, with North Carolina defeating Louisiana Tech 60-59 to win its first NCAA title on a 3 point shot by Charlotte Smith as...
. Jones "red shirted"
Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility...
her 1996 basketball season to concentrate on track. After Jones lost her spot on the 1996 Olympic
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
team because of an injury
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
, she decided to concentrate on track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
.
1997 World Championships in Athletics
The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 198 participant nations...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, while finishing 10th in the long jump
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
. At the 1999 World Championships
1999 World Championships in Athletics
The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....
, 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
Performance-enhancing drugs
Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used by athletes to improve their performances in the sports in which they engage.- Types of performance-enhancing drugs :...
at the time. Her ex-husband Hunter, an Olympic shot-putter
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
and confessed steroid user, testified under oath that he had seen her inject drugs into her stomach in the Olympic Village
Olympic Village
An Olympic Village is an accommodation centre built for an Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials, athletic trainers, and other staff. Since the Munich Massacre at the 1972...
in Sydney, and her coach Trevor Graham
Trevor Graham
Trevor Graham is a Jamaican-born former athletics coach, based in the United States. Following the BALCO scandal, the US Olympic Committee barred him indefinitely from all its training sites as a number of the athletes he was training had tested positive for drug abuse.-Athletics career:Graham was...
was involved in a major drug scandal that broke in 2005, which implicated baseball player Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
, sprinters Tim Montgomery
Tim Montgomery
Timothy Montgomery is a former American athlete. In 2005, he was stripped of his records – including a now void 100m world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002 – after being found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs...
, Chryste Gaines
Chryste Gaines
Chryste Dionne Gaines is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres....
, Kelli White
Kelli White
Kelli White is an American former sprinter. She won two gold medals in the World Championships in Paris in 2003. However, on June 18, 2004, she was stripped of her medals, because she tested positive on a drug test. She admitted guilt and testified before the Court of Arbitration for Sport...
, 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
2001 World Championships in Athletics
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America...
, as Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block is a sprinter who has competed in the Olympic Games....
beat her for her first loss in the event in six years; Pintusevich-Block was one of the names revealed by Victor Conte
Victor Conte
Victor Conte is a former musician with Tower of Power and founder and president of BALCO, a sports nutrition center in California. He served time in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering....
during the BALCO scandals. Jones, however, did claim the gold in both the 200 m and 4x100 m relay.
On her 2004 Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
experience, Jones said "It's extremely disappointing, words can't put it into perspective." She came in fifth in the Long Jump
Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's Long Jump
The Women's Long Jump event at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 25 and August 27.-Medalists:-Schedule:*All times are Eastern European Time -Abbreviations:...
and competed in the women's 4x100 m relay
Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 x 100 metres relay
The women's 4×100 metres relay was one of 23 track events of the athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics, in Athens. It was contested at the Athens Olympic Stadium, from August 26 to August 27, by a total of sixteen national teams comprising 65 athletes....
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
Veronica Campbell
Veronica Campbell-Brown C.D is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for Jamaica. A five-time Olympic medallist, she is the reigning World and Olympic 200 metres champion...
and Lauryn Williams
Lauryn Williams
Lauryn Williams is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for the United States...
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
Gaz de France
Gaz de France was a French company which produced, transported and sold natural gas around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European countries. Through its part-owned Belgian subsidiary SPE...
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
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
's Sherone Simpson
Sherone Simpson
Sherone Simpson is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for Jamaica. She is a gold medalist in the 4 x 100 meter relay from the 2004 Olympics and silver medalist in 2005 World Championships and now is the silver medalist in the individual event at the 2008 Summer Olympics...
, who clocked 10.87.
WNBA
In November 2009, it was reported that Jones was working out for the San Antonio Silver StarsSan Antonio Silver Stars
The San Antonio Silver Stars are a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah before the league's inaugural 1997 season began; the team moved to San Antonio...
of the WNBA
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
. She had previously played basketball while in college at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, 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
Carmichael Auditorium
William Donald Carmichael, Jr. Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels women's basketball team.The arena opened in 1965 as Carmichael Auditorium...
. She had previously been selected in the 3rd round of the 2003 WNBA Draft
2003 WNBA Draft
The 2003 WNBA Draft, both the dispersal draft and the regular WNBA draft, took place on April 24. The dispersal draft involved players from the rosters of the Portland Fire and Miami Sol teams which had both folded after the 2002 season....
by the Phoenix Mercury
Phoenix Mercury
The Phoenix Mercury is a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began; it is one of the eight original franchises...
. On March 10, 2010, the Tulsa Shock announced that Jones had signed to play with the team, making the professional minimum (about $35,000) in her first season. Jones made her debut on May 15 when the Tulsa Shock played their inaugural game at the BOK Center
BOK Center
The BOK Center, or Bank of Oklahoma Center, is a 19,100-seat multi-purpose arena and a primary indoor sports and event venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. Designed to accommodate arena football, hockey, basketball, concerts, and similar events, the facility was built at a cost of $178 million...
against the Minnesota Lynx
Minnesota Lynx
The Minnesota Lynx are a professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded prior to the 1999 season...
. Jones was waived by the Shock on July 21, 2011.
Personal bests
| Date | Event | Venue | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 12, 1998 | 100 m | Johannesburg Johannesburg Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa... , South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
10.65A |
| August 22, 1999 | 100 m | Seville Seville Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
10.70 |
| September 11, 1998 | 200 m | Johannesburg, Dublin Ireland | 21.62A |
| August 13, 1997 | 200 m | Zürich Zürich Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich... , Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
21.76 |
| April 22, 2001 | 300 m | Walnut, California Walnut, California Walnut is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 29,172 at the 2010 census and its current mayor is Tom King, a former Detective from the Los Angeles Police Department.... |
35.68 |
| April 16, 2000 | 400 m | Walnut, California | 49.59 |
| May 31, 1998 | Long Jump | Eugene, Oregon Eugene, Oregon Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S... |
7.31 (23' 11¾") |
Individual achievements
| Year | Meeting | Venue | Place | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | IAAF World Junior Championships | Seoul Seoul Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world... , South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
5th | 100 m | |
| 7th | 200 m | ||||
| 1997 | IAAF World Championships 1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 198 participant nations... |
Athens Athens Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state... , Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
1st | 100 m | 10.83 |
| 10th | Long Jump | ||||
| 1998 | IAAF World Cup | Johannesburg Johannesburg Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa... , South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
1st | 100 m | 10.65A |
| 1st | 200 m | 21.62A | |||
| 2nd | Long Jump | 7.00A (22' 11¾") | |||
| 1999 | IAAF World Championships 1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29.... |
Sevilla, Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
1st | 100 m | 10.70 |
| 3rd | Long Jump | 6.83 (22 ft 5 in) | |||
| 2000 | 2000 Summer Olympics 2000 Summer Olympics The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia... |
Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people... , Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
dq | 100 m | 10.75 |
| dq | 200 m | 21.84 | |||
| dq | Long Jump | 6.92 (22' 8½") | |||
| 2001 | IAAF World Championships 2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America... |
Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census... , Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
dq | 100 m | 10.85 |
| dq | 200 m | 22.39 | |||
| 2002 | IAAF World Cup | Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
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.
Top Speed film
Marion Jones was showcased in the 2003 film Top Speed, which documents her talent and skill within sprinting. Directed by Greg MacGillivrayGreg MacGillivray
Greg MacGillivray is an American film director and cinematographer. MacGillivray was first nominated for an Academy Award in 1995 for directing The Living Sea , and was nominated in the same category again for Dolphins in 2000.He has initiated the development of three cameras for the IMAX format...
and shot in IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
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
Lucas Luhr
Lucas Luhr is a German race car driver, currently contracted by Audi.-Early career:Luhr began his career in karts in 1989. Throughout the early 1990s, he won several local and national karting trophies...
, mountain bike
Mountain bike
A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...
r Marla Streb
Marla Streb
Marla Streb is a professional mountain bike racer. She currently rides for the professional trade team Luna Women's Professional MTB Team and Red Bull. Marla is most known for racing downhill, however, she does race XC events and wins such races often. She has twice won the Single Speed World...
, and Stephen Murkett, one of the designers of the Porsche Cayenne
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is a five seat mid-size luxury crossover manufactured by the German manufacturer Porsche since 2002, with North American sales beginning in 2003. Its platform was developed by Porsche and is shared with the Volkswagen Touareg and the Audi Q7. It is the first V8-engined vehicle...
.
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 CochranJohnnie Cochran
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O. J...
successfully got the four-year ban from track and field competition, the penalty for missing a random drug test, overturned) 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.
The BALCO investigation
On December 3, 2004, Victor ConteVictor Conte
Victor Conte is a former musician with Tower of Power and founder and president of BALCO, a sports nutrition center in California. He served time in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering....
, the founder of BALCO
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
, appeared in an interview with Martin Bashir
Martin Bashir
Martin Bashir is a British journalist and media personality, currently with NBC News as a contributor for its Dateline program, and an afternoon anchor for MSNBC, hosting Martin Bashir...
on ABC's
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
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
Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada
Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada co-authored the book Game of Shadows while they were reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle...
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.
According to Hunter's 2004 testimony before a federal grand jury, Jones' use of banned drugs began well before Sydney. Hunter told the investigators that Jones first obtained EPO
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
from Graham, who Hunter said had a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
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 PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of drug results from the USA Track and Field
USA Track and Field
USA Track & Field is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking...
Championships in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, IN
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, reported that on June 23, 2006, an "A" sample of Marion Jones' urine tested positive for Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
(EPO), a banned performance-enhancer. Jones withdrew from the Weltklasse Golden League
Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich is an annual track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. One of the first large-scale international athletics events , it is sometimes referred to as the one day...
meet in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, citing "personal reasons", and once more denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She retained lawyer Howard Jacobs
Howard Jacobs
Howard L. Jacobs is an attorney in the United States from Westlake Village, California, who has represented 75 or more athletes in cases, mostly about performance enhancing drugs.-Clients include::* Basketball player, Diana Taurasi, in 2011,...
, who has represented many athletes in doping cases, including Tim Montgomery
Tim Montgomery
Timothy Montgomery is a former American athlete. In 2005, he was stripped of his records – including a now void 100m world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002 – after being found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs...
and cyclist Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis is an American retired cyclist who after initially being awarded victory in the 2006 Tour de France was stripped of his title for a doping offense. He was an all-around rider, with special skills in climbing and time-trialing, and is also known to be a very fast descender.Landis...
. On September 6, 2006, Jones' lawyers announced that her "B" sample had tested negative, which cleared her from the doping allegations.
Admission of perjury during BALCO investigation
On October 5, 2007, Jones admitted to lying to federal agents about her use of steroidSteroid
A steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...
s prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and pled guilty at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (in White Plains
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
). She confessed to Judge Kenneth Karas that she had made false statements regarding the BALCO
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
case and a check-fraud case. She was released on her own recognizance
Recognizance
In some common law nations, a recognizance is a conditional obligation undertaken by a person before a court. It is an obligation of record, entered into before a court or magistrate duly authorized, whereby the party bound acknowledges that he owes a personal debt to the state...
but was required to surrender both her US and Belizean passports, pending sentencing in January. Although a maximum sentence of five years could be imposed, the prosecution recommended no more than six months as part of Jones' plea bargain.
After her legal admission of perjury, Jones held a press conference, where she finally publicly admitted taking steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
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
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
. One was impaneled to investigate the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as 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 issued by the United States Anti-Doping Agency
United States Anti-Doping Agency
The United States Anti-Doping Agency , is a non-profit organization and the national anti-doping organization for the United States. The organization is charged with managing the anti-doping program for the U.S...
, and announced her retirement from track and field on October 5, 2007. She broke down in tears during the press conference as she 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."
The US Anti-Doping Agency stated that their 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
Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
steroid investigation in the US District Court
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
. On January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced to 6 months in jail. She began her sentence on March 7, 2008, and was released on September 5, 2008.
In the BALCO case, she had denied to federal agents her use of the steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone
Tetrahydrogestrinone
Tetrahydrogestrinone is an anabolic steroid developed by Patrick Arnold. It has affinity to the androgen receptor and the progesterone receptor, but not to the estrogen receptor...
, 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".
USOC demands return of Olympic medals
Peter UeberrothPeter Ueberroth
Peter Victor Ueberroth is an American executive. He served as the sixth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1984 to 1989. He was recently the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee; he was replaced by Larry Probst in October 2008....
, Chairman of the US Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
, 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
Lamine Diack
Lamine Diack is from Senegal and was the Chairman of the Board of the National Water Company "Société Nationale des Eaux" of Senegal from 1995-2001. He is currently the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations since 8 November 1999. He was re-elected for another 4 year...
said in a statement that, "Marion Jones will be remembered as one of the biggest frauds in sporting history."
On October 8, 2007, a source confirmed that Marion Jones surrendered her five medals from the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. On the same day, Peter Ueberroth said that all the relay medals should be returned, and on April 10, 2008, the IOC voted to strip Jones' relay teammates of their medals, as well, though this decision would successfully be appealed by seven of Jones' teammates and overturned in 2010. Jones was ordered by the US 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 , pending the conclusion of the BALCO investigation.
Formal IOC disqualification
On December 12, 2007, the International Olympic CommitteeInternational Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
formally stripped Jones of all five Olympic medals dating back to September 2000, and banned her from attending the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in any capacity. The IOC action also officially disqualified Jones from her fifth place finish in the Long Jump at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
.
On October 28, 2008, Marion Jones was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
and stated that she would have won gold at the Sydney Olympics without the drugs that led to her disgrace.
Criminal sentencing, perjury case
On January 11, 2008, US District Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Jones to six months in prison and 200 hours of community service for perjuryPerjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
relating to her using of steroids and for a check-fraud scam. She was also sentenced to two years probation following her prison 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
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
Register no. 84868-054. She was released from prison on September 5, 2008.
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, Steve 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. According to the Associated Press, Jones is heavily in debt and fighting off court judgments, according to court records reviewed by the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. In 2006, a bank foreclosed on her $2.5-million mansion near Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, where Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
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.
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. 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. Prosecutors allege that funds were sent to Jones' track coach, Steve Riddick, in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, then funneled back to New York through a network of "friends, relatives and associates." 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 NovitzkyJeff Novitzky
Jeff Novitzky is an agent for the Food and Drug Administration investigating the use of steroids in professional sports. Before April 2008 he was a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service who investigated the use of steroids for over five years...
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 US 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
Tim Montgomery
Timothy Montgomery is a former American athlete. In 2005, he was stripped of his records – including a now void 100m world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002 – after being found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs...
, sports agent Charles Wells
Charles Wells
Charles Wells Ltd is the holding company of the Charles Wells Pub Company, a pub chain, and 60% shareholder of Wells & Young's, a brewing company formed from the merger of the brewing operations of Young's Brewery with Charles Wells...
, and her coach, 1976 Olympic gold medalist Steve Riddick.
Criminal sentencing, check fraud case
On January 11, 2008, Marion Jones was sentenced to six 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, CarswellFederal Medical Center, Carswell
The Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility that provides specialized medical and mental health services to female offenders. FMC Carswell is located in the northeast corner of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth . Its address is...
prison facility in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
on March 7 and was assigned Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
register no. 84868-054. She was released from prison on September 5.
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 and 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. "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."
External links
- WNBA Player Profile
- New York Times Topic: People: Marion Jones
- 10-05-2007 Federal Plea Bargain Agreement
- 12-28-2007 Marion Jones' Legal Filing Requesting Parole
- Complete text, audio, video of Marion Jones-Thompson apology speech
- California State Records before 2000