Marion Jones is a Belizean-American former world champion athlete. After a stellar high school career, Marion Jones went to the 2000 Summer Olympics, where she won three gold medals and two bronze medals. However, the United States Anti-Doping Agency later stripped her of her medals after she admitted to using steroids.
Jones had vehemently refused that she’d used steroids before the Olympics. She even sued Victor Conte, the head of BALCO, after he described her drug use. However, facing a lengthy jail sentence for bank fraud, Marion Jones cracked. She stated that when she first used a steroid, she thought it to be flaxseed oil but later learned it to be designer steroid THG.
Marion runs a business and is a fitness trainer with Camp Gladiator
Marion Jones currently lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Obadele Thompson, and their three children: Tim Montgomery Jr., Ahmir, and Eve-Marie.
Tim Montgomery is the product of a relationship Marion had with sprinter Tim Montgomery in the early 2000s. Obadele is the biological father to Ahmir (2007) and Eva-Marie (2009).
Jones runs a business and is a fitness trainer with Camp Gladiator. She credits her husband for facilitating her transition from sports to business. Even when she joined the WNBA with the Tulsa Shock, Thompson supported her by taking care of the kids. Marion told ESPN in 2012:
“My husband has been incredible through all of this. He’s been there the past five years. He allowed me to fulfill my dreams and he was the caretaker of the kids. He now is going to law school at the University of Texas, and I’m the caregiver.”
Marion’s Instagram page reveals her passion for fitness and advocacy. “My passion is impacting others,” a mid-March 2021 Instagram post reads.
Jones has moved on from her doping controversy but regularly talks about her mistake with the youth
In her interview with ESPN in 2012, Jones revealed that she’d struggled to move on after admitting to using steroids. People’s questions affected her and prevented her from making progress. She moved on after accepting that some people will never forgive her for cheating.
“There are a lot of people who will never forgive me for my poor choices,” Marion told the publication. “I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about them. There was a time right after it happened that I did. I was having a hard time coming to grips [with] having let people down.”
Jones speaks freely about her mistake and especially enjoys discussing her choices with the youth, who Marion says can be brutally blunt. “Young people are real,” Marion said. “The questions are direct. They don’t beat around the bush.”
In February 2020, Mario Jones talked to students at Delco Elementary School as the main speaker of the school’s Black History Month program. Jones told the kids that everyone makes mistakes and that it’s essential to surround oneself with positive friends. She stated that she would give the same advice to Olympic hopefuls.
“It’s OK to reflect on the past, but we’re moving forward,” Jones told ESPN. “I messed up, and I’m doing something to contribute back to community. I’m helping people to make the right choices.”