Marion Jones
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Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion
Jones was one of the most famous athletes to be linked to the
Jones has also played professional basketball in the Women's National Basketball Association, as point guard in the team of Tulsa Shock between 2010 and 2011.
Early life and education
Marion Jones was born to George Jones and his wife, Marion (originally from
Jones is also a 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina (UNC).
Personal life
While at UNC, Jones met and began dating one of the track coaches, shot putter C.J. Hunter. Hunter voluntarily resigned from his position at UNC to comply with the requirements of university rules prohibiting coach-athlete dating. Jones and Hunter were married on October 3, 1998, and trained for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics.
In the run-up to the 2000 Olympics, Jones declared that she intended to win gold medals in all five of her competition events at Sydney. Jones's husband, C.J. Hunter, had withdrawn from the shotput competition for a knee injury, though he was allowed to keep his coaching credentials and attend the games to support his wife. Just hours after Marion Jones won her first of the planned five golds, though, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Hunter had failed four pre-Olympic drug tests, testing favorable each time for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone. Hunter was immediately suspended from taking any role at the Sydney games and was ordered to surrender his on-field coaching credentials. 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.[7] 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 for poor performance, was charged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), as part of the investigation into the BALCO doping scandal, with receiving and using banned performance-enhancing drugs. The USADA 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 of Arbitration for Sport also stripped Montgomery of all race results, records, and medals, from March 31, 2001, onward. Montgomery later announced his retirement. The investigation into Montgomery's illegal substance use once more called into question Jones's protests about not using steroids and never having tested positive for steroids, especially in light of former trainer Trevor Graham's increasingly visible role in the BALCO case.
On February 24, 2007, Jones married Barbadian sprinter and 2000 Olympic 100 m bronze medalist Obadele Thompson.[8] Their first child together, a son named Ahmir, was born in June 2007.[9] She gave birth to daughter Eva-Marie on June 28, 2009.[10]
In 2010, Jones released a book, On the Right Track: From Olympic Downfall to Finding Forgiveness and the Strength to Overcome and Succeed, published by Simon & Schuster.[11]
Sports career
Track and field
In high school, Jones won the
She was invited to participate in the 1992 Olympic trials, and after her showing in the
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.
At the Sydney Olympics, Jones finished with three gold medals (100- and 200-meter sprint, and 4 × 400 m relay) and two bronze medals (long jump and 4 × 100 m relay). However, she was later stripped of these medals after admitting that she had used performance-enhancing drugs. Her ex-husband Hunter, an Olympic shotputter and confessed steroid user, testified under oath that he had seen her inject drugs into her stomach in the Olympic Village in Sydney. 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
May 2006 had Jones run 11.06 at altitude, but into a headwind in her season debut and beat
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, South Africa | 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 | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing the United States | |||||
1992 | World Junior Championships | Seoul, South Korea | 5th | 100m | 11.58 (wind: +0.3 m/s) |
7th | 200m | 24.09 (wind: +0.3 m/s) | |||
2nd | 4 × 100 m relay | 44.51 | |||
1997 | IAAF World Championships | Athens, Greece | 1st | 100 m | 10.83 |
10th | Long Jump | 6.63 m | |||
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 |
2004 | 2004 Summer Olympics | Athens, Greece | dq | Long Jump | 6.85 m |
dq | 4 × 400 m | DNF |
- The United States Anti-Doping Agency stripped Jones of every single medal, point and result received after September 1, 2000, after she admitted to using performance-enhancing steroids prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics.[15]
North Carolina statistics
Source[16]
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
93-94 | North Carolina | 35 | 494 | 52.9% | 28.0% | 71.3% | 4.1 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 14.1 |
94-95 | North Carolina | 35 | 628 | 52.5% | 29.8% | 65.5% | 5.0 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 0.9 | 17.9 |
95-96 | North Carolina | redshirt | |||||||||
96-97 | North Carolina | 32 | 594 | 53.6% | 26.7% | 65.7% | 4.7 | 4.1 | 3.1 | 0.6 | 18.6 |
Career | 102 | 1716 | 53.0% | 28.4% | 67.0% | 4.6 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 16.8 |
WNBA
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Los Angeles | October 12, 1975
Listed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
Listed weight | 150 lb (68 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Thousand Oaks (Thousand Oaks, California) |
College | North Carolina (1993–1997) |
WNBA draft | 2003: 3rd round, 33rd overall pick |
Selected by the Phoenix Mercury | |
Playing career | 2010–2011 |
Position | Point guard |
Number | 20 |
Career history | |
2010–2011 | Tulsa Shock |
Career highlights and awards | |
In November 2009, Jones was working out for the
Jones was waived by the Shock on July 21, 2011.[20]
Top Speed film
Jones appears in the 2003 film Top Speed, along with other speed specialists such as racing driver Lucas Luhr, mountain biker Marla Streb, and Porsche Cayenne designer Stephen Murkett. Directed by Greg MacGillivray and shot in IMAX format, the film covers details from races to mistakes she made within her performances.
Use of illicit performance-enhancing drugs
Throughout most of her athletic career including two Olympiads and several championship meets, Jones had been accused, either direct or by implication, of taking performance-enhancing drugs. These accusations began in high school in the early 1990s, when she missed a random drug test and was consequently banned for four years from track and field competition. Jones claimed that she never received the letter notifying her of the required test; and attorney
BALCO investigation
On December 3, 2004,
According to Hunter's 2004 testimony before a federal grand jury, Jones's use of banned drugs began well before Sydney.[22] Hunter told the investigators that Jones first obtained EPO (Erythropoietin) 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 drug screening procedures available at the time. Graham then distributed the performance enhancers to Jones and other Sprint Capitol athletes. Subsequently, 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
Admission of lying during BALCO investigation
On October 5, 2007, Jones admitted to lying to federal agents under oath about her steroids use prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics and pleaded guilty at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (in White Plains).[4] She confessed to Judge Kenneth M. Karas that she had made false statements regarding the BALCO 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 5 years could be imposed, the prosecution recommended no more than six months as part of Jones's plea bargain.[23]
After her admission, Jones held a press conference on the same day, where she publicly admitted to using steroids before the 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 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 issued by USADA and announced her retirement from track and field.[4] She broke down into tears during the press conference as she apologized for her actions, saying: "And so it is with a great amount of shame, that 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 them down. I have let my country down. And I have let myself down."[23]
USADA 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 January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced to six months in jail.[4] She began her sentence on March 7, 2008,[24] and was released on September 5, 2008.[25]
In the BALCO case, she had denied to federal agents her use of the steroid
U.S. Olympic Committee demands return of Olympic medals
On October 8, 2007, a source confirmed that Marion Jones surrendered her five medals from the 2000 Summer Olympics.[3] On the same day, Ueberroth said that all the relay medals should be returned,[28] and on April 10, 2008, the IOC voted to strip Jones' relay teammates of their medals as well,[29] although this decision would successfully be appealed by seven of Jones' teammates and overturned in 2010.[30]
Formal IOC disqualification
On December 12, 2007, the IOC 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.[2] The IOC action also officially disqualified Jones from her fifth-place finish in the Long Jump at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[2]
On October 28, 2008, 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.[31][32]
Financial troubles
Seven years after winning a women's record five Olympic track and field medals and receiving multimillion-dollar endorsement deals, Jones was broke.[33] According to the Associated Press, Jones was heavily in debt and fighting off court judgments, according to court records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. In 2006, a bank foreclosed on her $2.5-million mansion in Apex, North Carolina. 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.
Involvement in check fraud
In July 2006, Jones was linked to a
On October 5, 2007, Jones pleaded 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 pleaded guilty to making false statements about her knowledge of a check-cashing scheme to New York U.S.
Criminal sentencing
Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge
On January 11, 2008, Karas sentenced Jones to six months in jail for her involvement in the check fraud case and her use of performance-enhancing drugs. During the sentencing hearing, the judge admonished her, saying that she knew what she was doing and would be punished accordingly.[35] "The offenses here are serious. They each involve lies made three years apart", Karas said, adding that Jones's actions were "not a one-off mistake...but a repetition in an attempt to break the law."[35]
Jones was ordered to surrender on March 15, 2008. She reported four days early, on March 11, at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell prison in Fort Worth and was assigned Federal Bureau of Prisons register no. 84868–054.[24] She was released from prison on September 5, 2008.[25]
Notes
- IAAFdisqualified the team.
References
- ^ a b "Marion Jones". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
- ^ a b c "IOC strips Jones of all 5 Olympic medals". MSNBC.com. Associated Press. December 12, 2007. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
- ^ a b "Jones Returns 2000 Olympic Medals". Channel4.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Schmidt, Michael S.; Zinser, Lynn (October 5, 2007). "Jones Pleads Guilty to Lying About Drugs". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ a b Rowen, Beth; Ross, Shmuel; Olson, Liz (2007). "Marion Jones: Fastest Woman on Earth". InfoPlease Database. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
- ^ a b Hersh, Philip (September 24, 2000). "Jones Relays Thoughts on Chance for 5 Golds". Chicago Tribune. p. 15.
- ^ Helene Elliott: Marion Jones Gives Birth to Boy, June 30, 2003,
- ^ Cherry, Gene (March 7, 2007). "Sprinters Jones and Thompson married, says minister". Reuters.
- ^ "CNN Newsroom: Jones Doping Case; Tax Standoff Ends; Myanmar Crackdown". CNN Transcripts. October 5, 2007.
- ^ Michaelis, Vicki (May 17, 2010). "Marion Jones hits ground running, starts fresh in WNBA". USA Today.
- ^ "Marion Jones". Archived from the original on December 9, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ^ Patrick, Dick (October 5, 2007). "Until now, Jones had been steadfast in doping denials". USA Today.
- ^ T&FN HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS ATHLETES OF THE YEAR Archived November 26, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. trackandfieldnews.com
- ^ "Friday: Bad day for U.S.; new dawn for China". Sports Illustrated: 2004 Olympic Games. sportsillustrated.com. August 28, 2004.
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ignored (help) - ^ Armour, Nancy (October 8, 2007). "Marion Jones returns her five Olympic medals, accepts 2-year ban". pantagraph.com. Associated Press.
- ^ "North Carolina Media Guide" (PDF). goheels.comaccess-date=2017-08-31.
- ^ Blackistone, Kevin (November 30, 2009). "Marion Jones Attempting Comeback as Pro Basketball Player". Archived from the original on August 2, 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- ^ Juozapavicius, Justin (March 10, 2010). "Marion Jones signs with WNBA's Shock". Yahoo! Sports. Associated Press. Retrieved March 10, 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Shipley, Amy (May 16, 2010). "Marion Jones returns to sport with the WNBA's Tulsa Shock". The Washington Post. p. D08.
- ^ "Ex-Olympic sprinter Marion Jones cut by Shock". CNN. July 21, 2011.
- ^ Fainaru-Wada, M.; Williams, L. (2006). Game of Shadows. Gotham Books. pp. 234–235.
- ^ Williams, Lance (August 19, 2006). "Sprinter Jones failed drug test". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
- ^ a b Zinser, Lynn; Schmidt, Michael S. (October 6, 2007). "Jones Admits to Doping and Enters Guilty Plea". The New York Times. p. D1.
- ^ a b "Disgraced sprinter Jones reports to jail". AFP. March 7, 2008. Archived from the original on June 21, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
- ^ a b "Marion Jones released from Texas federal prison". ESPN. Associated Press. September 5, 2008.
- ^ Shipley, Amy (October 5, 2007). "Marion Jones Admits to Steroid Use". The Washington Post.
- ^ "IAAF decries Jones's tainted legacy". Associated Press. October 8, 2007.
- ^ "Jones's Teammate Braces for Worst". The New York Times. Associated Press. October 13, 2007.
- ^ "IOC votes to strip Jones's teammates of medals from 2000 Games". ESPN. Associated Press. April 10, 2008.
- ^ Cohen, Rachel; Graham, Pat; Weber, Paul (July 16, 2010). "US relay runners win Olympic medals appeal". ESPN. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014.
- YouTube
- ^ "Marion Jones tells Oprah Winfrey: I'd have won without the drugs". The Daily Telegraph. October 30, 2008. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022.
- ^ "Former Olympian, track millionaire Jones now broke". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on June 29, 2007.
- ^ a b "Bank records link Marion Jones to money scam". NBC Sports. Associated Press. July 15, 2006. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008.
- ^ a b "Six-month jail sentence for Jones". BBC News. January 11, 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2008.
Other sources
- "Biography: Marion Jones". Focus on Athletes. International Association of Athletics Federations(IAAF). Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- "Marion Jones". Athlete Bios. USA Track and Field (USATF). April 30, 2007. Archived from the originalon June 21, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2007.
- "Marion Jones". United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Archived from the originalon December 13, 2007. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
- Marion Jones at World Athletics
- Marion Jones at IMDb
- 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[permanent dead link]
- "Profiles in Speed: Marion Jones". Top Speed. 2003. Archived from the original on January 23, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2008.