I became a huge Marion Jones fan just prior to the 2000 summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Soon after that things began to slowly go bad. First was her marriage to shot putter C.J. Hunter.C.J. Hunter was later banned from Track & Field for using illegal substances. Marion and C.J. divorced soon after.
Then there was her relationship with Track & Field sprinter Tim Montgomery. She also has a child with Tim. Within the last year he has been convicted of bank fraud. He was also banned from Track & Field for drug use.
Then just several weeks ago, Marion announced that she was broke. Now according to media reports, Marion sent a letter to family and friends telling them that she has indeed used steroids. Over the last couple of years Marion has adamantly denied any steroid use. She will according to reports admit this use of performance enhancing drugs to federal authorities as soon as today. And there is a chance Marion will actually serve a short time in jail.
Also according to the letter Marion says she used the performance enhancing drugs just prior to the 2000 Olympics. In those Olympic games Marion won three gold medals.
This has to be one of the all-time tragic stories in sports history. Very few athletes have fallen from such heights. Marion was considered the golden women in Track & Field and although Track & Field is only marginally popular here in the U.S., Marion was the exception and was a star. I wasn't a Michael Vick fan, so his fall from grace was just news to me. But I was a fan of Marion Jones, I was emotionally invested in her success. I remember the news conference from a couple of years ago when she denied ever having used performance enhancing drugs.
I believed her when she said she had not used drugs.
So, now I along with every other Marion Jones and Track & Field fan find myself very sad and disappointed. All in all I hope Marion does not go to jail. I also hope that Marion Finds her way back to success. She has made some horrible decisions and now she's paying the price, and so are her fans.
Read more about Marion Jones current admission here.
7 comments:
It's a sad commentary on society that people actually believed she was clean. Even if you didn't catch on at first, almost every person in her life is/has been convicted of a performance enhancing drug offense. Do you think Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis are clean too?
Hi Anon,
Sometimes we are blind when it comes to people we like and admire. I'm not a fan of Armstrong, Landis or their sport so I it's easier for me to believe they might have done something wrong.
And yes like everyone else who is a fan of track & field and Marion Jones, I saw the signs. I just chose to believe the best rather than the worst.
Thanks for commenting
No offense intended...but I would hardly call someone using drugs one of the all-time tragic stories in sports history. This is someone who knowingly made the choice to use performance enhancing drugs...sorry...I don't believe her "I thought it was flax seed oil" story...everyone else in her life seems to have been using, it is a bit too much for me to buy.
Too many people have died from truly tragic circumstances or had horrible things happen to their family for me to think that it is anything other than hyperbole to compare performance enhancing drug use to something like the crash of Southern Airways Flight 932 which killed thirty-five members of the Marshall University football team.\
Jones was a good story...but it turns out the story was fiction. Sad? Yes. Tragic? No.
Hi Brent,
I understand your point, but I made no attempt to compare Marion Jones' situation to any other. And you are right about her situation not camparing to the ones that you mentioned.
However some tragedies are ones that no one has control over, like the ones you mentioned and others are tragic exactly because someone did have control. Marion took her chance at greatness and squandered it, she's financially ruined, she has been through two broken relationships and may go to jail. That sounds like a tragic story to me.
So I think that tragedy is reletive to each situation, and the ones you mentioned are in a totally different catagory than Marion Jones' story.
Thanks for commenting
Tragedy is defined as any event with a sad and unfortunate outcome. The term also applies specifically in Western culture to a form of drama defined by Aristotle characterized by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune. Calling Marion Jones life/decisions tragic is no different than Oedipus Rex being called a Greek Tragedy.
Hi Ehav,
I couldn't have said it better.
Thanks.
I wonder how she is doing now? Has anyone reached out to her?
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