Marion Jones Returns to the Starting Block – Essence

It’s been quiet on the Marion Jones front for the past decade… until now. With the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the former fastest woman in the world is back in the highlight, sharing her unique journey, identifying as LGBTQ+, and the way she’s redefining success. ESSENCE had the opportunity to sit down with Jones to discuss her second act.

In 2000, Jones was on top of the world at the Sydney Olympics. The reigning track and field queen won five Olympic medals Team USAthree gold and two bronze. But just a few years later, Jones was embroiled in a doping scandal. It led to 2008 with a six-month prison sentence, stripping her of all her Olympic medals, in addition to all “her performances until September 2000. [being]…erased from the record books.”

Two years later, Jones returned with great athletic ability, continuing her profession in basketball, her other passion. She played for nearly two seasons in WNBA with the Tulsa Shock before he passed away.

Jones later settled right into a life away from the press, but in June of this 12 months, during Pride Month, Jones opened up about Instagramsaying, “I wanted to share with you…I identify with the LGBTQ community, I have for a long time…It’s something that has shaped me as a person…as a child, I started to feel different as a woman of color, as a queer woman. As a woman who is almost 50, I now feel comfortable in my skin and being myself.”

“The news that I identify as gay is not new to my family, to me, or to my community, but I know that because I made the decision to step away from the spotlight for over a decade, the world has not been in the loop,” Jones told ESSENCE. “For so long, I have hidden certain elements of who I am, who I was… and where I am in my life now, this is full transparency.”

“I share with people that their comeback from hard times is bigger than their failure, and I have to be completely transparent,” Jones said. When asked, “Why now?” Jones responded that “it’s time for people to hear who I am, but even more so for people who may be struggling with their own identity to see that they’re not alone.”

A well-recognized sense of determination was palpable on Jones’ face during the discussion, especially when she stepped down onto this 12 months’s field of athletes competing for medals in Paris. “I’m here to cheer them on, to pray for them, and I really hope that they use this platform that they have, which is a very, very short season,” Jones shared. “I hope that they realize that sports, their events, their disciplines, are for a short time.” Her advice: “Start preparing for life after sports by making sure that the people around you are pouring into you because of who you are, not because of what you can do for them.”

As for the next ten years, Jones is happy about what’s ahead: “I’m in a place now where I feel comfortable in my skin and I know that the choices I’m making now are really about helping people live better and stronger lives.” The 48-12 months-old recently launched a brand new partnership with Driven Inc., a training program for professionals and entrepreneurs. She says, “We teach entrepreneurs the tools to get through tough times and win at life.”

“I even have the opportunity to do what I like and train people by way of physical fitness, but I also can teach them how to get back up, how to get back up, how to cope with the consequences, [and] “Get over it,” Jones said. “Not many people can understand or relate to being an Olympic champion or a convicted felon, but everyone on the planet has dealt with some form of failure.”

“Failure looks very different to everyone, and everyone has struggled at some point to deal with it. I’ve reached the highest levels of success, but I’ve also fallen many times because of the choices I’ve made. I just know how to get back up. I know the tools to win again, and that’s what I’m so excited to share with people.”

“Failure doesn’t have to last forever,” Jones stated firmly. “People are bigger than their mistakes in life, and that doesn’t define who they are.”