In 2000, Marion Jones was America’s sweetheart and three time gold medalist as well a s two time bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She has since been stripped of her medals and sentenced to six months in jail for denying her use of steroids. Her sentence also related to a check fraud scheme that she was involved in with Tim Montgomery, a former partner.
Marion Jones had until March 11 to report to jail to begin her sentence. She reported yesterday to the Federal Medical Center-Carwell and was given the inmate number 84868/054. The correctional facility is located in Fort Worth.
Marion Jones, 32, won the gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters as well as the 4×100 relay.
It is quite interesting that Marion Jones was actually guilty of using steroid use because she vehemently denied using steroids and even sued Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, when he accused her of being involved in the check fraud scheme.
Later, Marion Jones did admit she used the steroid THG from BALCO from September of 2000 until the following July.
Despite her hard work and athleticism to reach the heights of the sport Marion Jones has since chosen to retire. This is a direct result of having all of her records since September 1 of 2000 being removed. It is also very likely that Marion Jones will be banned completely from the sport.
This is very sad as Marion Jones was a role model for many and an inspiration to all of America. Her hard work was obvious and her dedication to the sport was clear. However, Marion Jones let her guard down and chose to use steroids to enhance her performance. Being such an amazing athlete she didn’t really need to performance enhancing drugs, but she fell victim to the pressures of the sport and the desire to win and set records at all costs. She did win and set records, but those have been taken away from her. She is now serving six months in jail and will have another two years of probation to serve afterwards.
Marion Jones is not the only one to use performance enhancing drugs in the sport. In fact, many baseball players have gone before Congress in regard to potential steroid use. There are many allegations that other athletes in professional sports like football, basketball, and boxing have used or are using steroids.
It really is a sad day in sports when amazing athletes feel they must take steroid enhancing drugs to be even better than they already are. Steroids are illegal and other performance enhancing supplements have since been made illegal as well.
And, unfortunately, while Marion Jones was caught and sentenced to six months in jail it is highly unlikely the last sports figure to go through this experience.