Olympian Marion Jones joins the Tulsa Shock
Written by MegAnne, Monday March 22 2010
I’m obsessed, addicted, in love with the Olympics. Winter or summer, I’m in front of the TV or on the web as often as possible every two years. As a runner since elementary school, you can imagine that Track & Field has long been my sport of choice and those who earn a spot on the podium also earned a place as one of my heroes.
It would come as no surprise then that I was utterly shocked to learn five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones was busted for steroid use in recent history. She even spent six months in prison in 2008 for lying to a federal grand jury about her connection to San Francisco lab BALCO, known for distributing performance-enhancing drugs to high profile athletes.
Turning over a new leaf, Jones, who started as a point guard her freshman year at North Carolina and won a national championship with that team in 1994, will join the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock. In a sport that she claims was always her first love, Jones will attempt to shake of the dust and sharpen her skills on the hardwood, all the while creating distance between herself and the event that saw her stripped of her five Olympic medals.
“I’m at a point where I’m saying that I paid my price, paid my debt and I’m looking forward now. That, to me, is the most important thing,” said Jones.
Also worth note is that the crossover into basketball is not an attempt at publicity or a shift in public opinion.
“It’s important to distinguish that I am not just Molly Homemaker who decided, ‘Hey, I want to play basketball. Let me just train and try to make a spot on a WNBA team.’ Let’s get that out of the equation,” Jones said.
“Yes, I have been removed from the sport for 13 years and removed from competitive play. But that does not mean in any way that I have been sitting on my bottom for 13 years and not doing a single thing.”
Only time on the court will tell if Marion Jones is truly worthy of a spot on a WNBA roster, and worthy of a second chance to be a professional athlete.
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