Marion Jones facts for kids

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Marion Jones

Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1975-10-12) October 12, 1975 (age 49) Los Angeles, U.S.
Height	5 ft 10 in
Weight	150 lb
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	100 meters, 200 meters, long jump
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  United States Olympic Games Disqualified 2000 Sydney 100 m Disqualified 2000 Sydney 200 m Disqualified 2000 Sydney 4x400 m relay Disqualified 2000 Sydney 4x100 m relay Disqualified 2000 Sydney Long jump World Championships Gold 1997 Athens 100 m Gold 1997 Athens 4x100 m relay Gold 1999 Seville 100 m Bronze 1999 Seville Long jump Disqualified 2001 Edmonton 100 m Disqualified 2001 Edmonton 200 m Disqualified 2001 Edmonton 4 × 100 m relay Continental Cup Gold 1998 Johannesburg 100 m Gold 1998 Johannesburg 200 m Goodwill Games Gold 1998 Uniondale 100 m Gold 1998 Uniondale 200 m Disqualified 2001 Brisbane 100 m

Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track-and-field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but was later stripped of her medals after admitting to steroid use.

Jones was one of the most famous athletes to be linked to the BALCO scandal. The performance-enhancing substance usage scandal covered more than 20 top-level athletes, including Jones's ex-husband, shot putter C.J. Hunter, and 100 m sprinter Tim Montgomery, the father of Jones's first child.

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.

Personal life

Marion Jones was born to George Jones and his wife, Marion (originally from Belize), in Los Angeles. She holds dual citizenship with the United States and Belize. Her parents split when she was very young, and Jones's 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 as an outlet for her grief: running, pickup basketball games, and whatever else her brother Albert was doing athletically. By the age of 15, she was routinely dominating California high-school athletics on both the track and the basketball court.

Jones is also a 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina (UNC). While there, she 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. 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). 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.

On February 24, 2007, Jones married Barbadian sprinter and 2000 Olympic 100 m bronze medalist Obadele Thompson. Their first child together, a son named Ahmir, was born in June 2007. She gave birth to daughter Eva-Marie on June 28, 2009.

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.

Sports career

Track and field

In high school, Jones won the CIF California State Meet in the 100 m sprint four years in a row, representing Rio Mesa the first two years and Thousand Oaks high school the last two. She was selected the Gatorade Player of the Year for track and field three years in a row, once at Rio Mesa and twice at Thousand Oaks. Angela Burnham preceded her with the award at Rio Mesa, Kim Mortensen followed her with the award at Thousand Oaks. Those schools joined Jesuit High School (Sacramento) and Long Beach Polytechnic High School in having two athletes win the award. She was the Track and Field News "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1991 and 1992. She was the third female athlete to achieve the title twice, immediately following Angela Burnham at Rio Mesa High School, who was the second to achieve the title twice.

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 meter 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. Jones lost her spot on the 1996 Olympic team because of an injury.

Marion Jones (far left) during the 1999 World Championships

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

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.

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 the team swept past the competition in the preliminaries only to miss a baton pass and finish last 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 had Jones run 11.06 at altitude, but into a headwind in her season debut and beat Veronica Campbell and Lauryn Williams in subsequent 100 m 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.

Personal bests

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.

North Carolina statistics

WNBA

In November 2009, Jones was working out for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA. She had played basketball while in college at the University of North Carolina, where her team won the national championship in 1994. Her No. 20 jersey, honored by the school, hangs in Carmichael Auditorium. She had 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, in the Shock's inaugural game at the BOK Center against the Minnesota Lynx. In 47 WNBA games, Jones averaged 2.6 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Jones was waived by the Shock on July 21, 2011.

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.

See also

In Spanish: Marion Jones para niños