Olympic medals from LaTasha Colander-Richardson

Marion Jones married the shot putter Cottrell J. Hunter in 1998. This had been tested with the doping agent Nadrolon before the 2000 Olympic Games. Marion Jones initially defended him, the marriage divorced in 2001. At the Olympic Games in Sidney, she was the first to cross the finish line in runs over 100m, 200m and 4x400m, in third place in the long jump and in the 4x100m relay. The comparison to Wilma Rudolph has already been drawn in the media. In 2003, a doping scandal involving the American company Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) was uncovered by journalists. This company had provided trainers and their top American and European athletes with designer steroids for years. Marion Jones was also on the BALCO customer list. She denied having received doping drugs from BALCO. In 2005 Jones was no longer invited to many meetings due to initial allegations. In June 2006 she was tested positive for EPO (erythropoietin), a performance-enhancing agent, but since the B sample was negative, she was still considered innocent. She even announced through the media that her innocence has now been finally proven. In October 2007 Jones finally pleaded guilty to doping in court in New York and lied to the 2000 Olympic Games in the doping investigation. Her trainer Trevor Graham had given her supplements that she shouldn't be talking about. She felt the performance-enhancing effect. This admission had far-reaching consequences. Since she testified twice under oath never to have doped, she was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 400 hours of community service. In another ruling, she was sentenced to return $ 700,000 in prize money and $ 100,000 in grants from the United States. At this point, Jones is said to have had only $ 2,000 left after spending all of her money on her lawyers. She was bankrupt. In addition, all of her 5 medals from the 2000 Olympics were withdrawn and returned. Since the second over 100m Ekaterini Thanou was convicted of a doping offense before the 2004 Olympic Games, the gold medal remains vacant. After complaints by relay runners, the disqualifications of the USA were withdrawn again and these runners were able to keep their medals, since in 2000 there was still no explicit regulation that the entire relay team would be disqualified if a relay member was violated by doping. In 2012, as a State Department envoy, Jones traveled around the world telling her story to young people so that they could think carefully about what decisions to make. Her career leap from Doper to diplomat is controversial in many places.