2000 Olympic Games

I would like to shed some light on the disgraced former track star and Olympic Gold medalist Marion

Press Conference after Guilty Plea

Jones. As we all may remember, Marion Jones won 5 Medals in the 2000 Sydney, Australia Olympics and became known as the fastest woman on the planet. After her ex husband, track star CJ Hunter and her ex boyfriend and father of her son track star Tim Montgomery were tied to performance enhancing drug use while they were with Jones and her ties to Victor Conte and BALCO, all signs pointed to her being guilty of steroid use. Recently, Marion Jones has been in the news for serving 6 months in prison from March 2008 to September 2008 for lying to a federal grand jury about her steroid use and for pleading guilty to a check fraud scandal with the aforementioned Tim Montgomery. In 2007, she married sprinter and Olympic medalist Obadale Thompson who is from Barbados and they have two children together.

What many people may not know is that Marion Jones once scored 48 points in a high school basketball game while growing up in Southern California and led the University of North Carolina to the 1994 NCAA Championship as a starting freshman Point Guard.

UNC Women's basketball

She had to make the decision between track and basketball and eventually decided to pursue track full-time and graduated from UNC in 1997. While a professional track star she was even drafted by the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA in 2003. After being banned from Olympic competition and having the majority of her medals taken away, she decided to try her hand at basketball again at the ripe age of 34 this past year. She played for the Tulsa Shock this season and averaged 3pts and 2rebs in 9 minutes a game shooting 52% from the field. In the last 3 games of the season she averaged 11pts, 6 rebs, and 2 stls while playing 22 minutes a game and shooting 57% from the field. With increased playing time is it possible we could see Marion Jones playing in a WNBA all star game one day?

Press Conference with Tulsa Shock

During the WNBA offseason Marion Jones has been on a Book Tour for her new book “On the Right Track” and has been conducting interviews. Famous director John Singleton recently did a documentary on Jones titled “Press Pause” detailing the journey of Marion Jones’ rise to stardom and recent legal troubles. In regards to Marion Jones being a black female who has served time for her involvement with steroids and lying about it while no one else has served time. Singleton stated:

“Come on now, it’s just common sense — nothing’s going to happen to any of those guys. Those players will not see the inside of a jail cell. They don’t want to open up a can of worms – be it the IOC, NFL or MLB, be it what’s legal or not legal — going back over the last 30 years. They’re only going to go so far with those people and then they’ll let it taper off.”

One excerpt from the book details how Marion Jones spent 23 hours a day in solitary confinement with no TV or computer for 48 days for defending herself against her cell mate, who allegedly attacked her.

While the general public may have written off Marion Jones and label her as a failure, a cheat, a miscreant, or disgrace to her country I look forward to her redeeming herself on the basketball court these next few years and becoming an ambassador of what not to do while speaking around the country.

Marion Jones with the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA

Aquil “Quil” Bayyan of The War Room, For War Room Sports