Former track and field star Marion Jones was only 5 when she found herself curiously glued to her parents’ TV screen, fascinated by the royal glitz and glam boasted throughout then-Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana’s nuptials — and the aspiring athlete, she later shared with SI, wondered when she’d get some red-carpet treatment of her own. Of course, it would take about 19 years for Jones to find her moment of glory at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The then-celebrated athlete won an astounding five medals in total for Team USA: three gold wins in the 100-, 200-, and 4×400-meter relay, plus two bronze medals in the 4×100-meter relay and long jump competitions.
Jones’ triumph almost stood the test of time — until she was hit with doping allegations in the mid-2000s. It’s been well over a decade since the steroid scandal that rocked Jones’ world effectively ruined the disgraced Olympian’s track and field career. We’ll dive more into the fallout below, but luckily, Jones hasn’t been weighed down by her dark past. As of this writing, she’s even found a new niche in the world of sports. Here’s how Marion Jones has transformed through the years.
According to Marion Jones’ mother, Marion Toler, her daughter wasn’t quite like other children when she was growing up — the future track star possessed both a rebellious streak and an above-average enthusiasm. “She was the type of child who would say, ‘If I don’t get this or that, I’m going to jump off this ledge,'” Toler recalled in their joint interview with SI. “… I knew that she would defy me, test me, and there were many rebellions. But I decided that she was special, that I had to find a way to nurture these qualities, not beat them out of her.
One of those trying moments came in grade school when Toler once received a call that Jones was nowhere to be found. “What do you mean, missing?” a not-so-perturbed Toler had told the school staff member on the other end of the line, as she revealed in a 1993 chat with the Los Angeles Times. A search for Jones eventually ended on the track within minutes of her reported disappearance. Jones had been too busy playing games at recess to hear the sound of the bell. That state of oblivion eventually became synonymous with Jones during her track and field career, such that she’d have no recollection of the gun going off at the beginning of her races.
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