The world of sport shook on its very foundation today. The geologic equivalent of a magnitude 8.0 (Richter). Marion Jones walked into a court house in NY and entered a plea of GUILTY to charges of lying to federal agents. She said, "Making these statements to federal agents was a very stupid thing to do." It appears she'll be going to jail for about 6 months when she's sentenced later this year. What did she plead guilt to and for...
A quick search of her career and upbringing yields a character steeped in diverse controversy and loss. Many factors can be blamed on today's outcome, but its probably best to take them in concert with no one factor playing the major role, just an amalgam of events conspiring together: Her parents split when she was very young. Her father had absolutely no interest in being with her at all throughout her life. She has a half-brother as well. Her mother remarried when she was young and he adopted the small children as his own. He died a few years later of a stroke. Mom was/is a 'driven' person. She focused her attention on Marion from a young age and focused her energies on developing the natural talents Marion was exhibiting. This went so far as to include uprooting and relocating the family to a different part of the state (CA) so Marion could train and play with a highly ranked high school basketball team. She began appearing in record books in her teenage years. She, in what might be considered a fluke, was brought out to the field to train with the high school track and field team. She excelled and was a driven individual. She also began showing all of the tenacity of such a driven person and was not well liked by fellow competitors. After placing 2nd in a long jump event, she had words with the person who'd won the event. She didn't exactly exhibit sportsman-like qualities. After being trained by a college level coach for a month, she bettered her performance and began placing first, never really looking back after that. And it was quite possibly at this time that she began using performance enhancer's. Hereafter she continually broke every record she set out for. Rumors also began stirring at this time that she was using enhancer's. Enough so that the regulating bodies were concerned enough to review her. In turn her mother hired famed lawyer Johnnie Cochran (OJ Simpson fame) to fight a four year ban levied upon Marion. Eventually Mr. Cochran got Marion cleared of the ban and reinstated. Finally she qualified for the 2000 Olympic games and went on to win five medals (3 gold, 2 silver). The rumors continued to swirl. Then in 2004 she qualified as an alternate for the next games as alternate but chose to stay away.
During this time as well, her personal life always seemed to be in turmoil. In 1998 she married then coach CJ Hunter. Hunter was a track and field coach at the university she attended as student. The university's head coach stumbled upon their relationship (and its violation of the schools ethics and standards policy of no liaisons between teachers and students) Hunter was given a choice of job or girlfriend. He chose the latter. Shortly thereafter they were married. CJ Hunter was himself a famed athlete in track. A shot-putter working toward and achieving national and world records. He too competed for and became a member of the 2000 Olympic team (and won Gold). In 2001 he became a disgraced figure when he tested positive for doping agents (and subsequently lost his national record titles.) This positive test supposedly caused their relationship to falter. One could easily anticipate that Marion's efforts to remain a huge bread winner (upwards of $300,000 - $500,000 per year) forced their relationship to founder because she liked money more than her husband. Then it was onto bigger and better events with ever higher appearance price tags, endorsement deals and sponsorships. She met another couple of men and fell in love with a Barbadian sprinter, but never married. They had a child together in 2003. She left him in 2004 after he was implicated in yet another doping scam in Marion's life, though this one now also included money laundering charges. The ultimate decline of her career had begun. She'd never been able to shake the doping claims, no matter what she stated, how she protested or what she wrote in her autobio.
Year after year she hired attorney after attorney to fight off yet another claim of doping or illicit behavior and character challenges. In an ultimate insult to her protests, she'd filed suit against a California man (supplier of her steroids) who'd made statement to the government and to media that he had supplied her with the performance enhancing drugs. She claimed this as defamation. He counter-sued, and won. He was awarded a $240,000 settlement (though never having collected.) This loss and the cost of her continual legal challenges against the antidoping agencies and personal hurdles (no pun) sapped her of money. Her lifestyle didn't help either. By mid-2006 an independent audit showed she had lost her $2.5 mansion near Michael Jordan, and 2 other houses including one her mother lived in. People around her and in the know were confused because she still drove a brand new 2006 Porsche SUV.
Then finally something within her let go. What that was we'll have to wait for her next book, something probably about life affirmation or reconciliation. This book with contain the 'real' Marion Jones.' In all honesty, it'll most likely just be another paycheck for her and contain her descriptions of how she's been the victim all along forced there by circumstance or co-opted by notoriety. In the end not only did she lie to the federal agents about her steroid use, where she got them, how she used them and with whom, she also lied to them in an unrelated matter of a money laundering scheme. A promising life with hideous results. Hopefully she can find the ultimate happiness that only family and friend can bring. Everything else is just glitter and gloss of of little if any substance.
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