US Olympian Stripped of Medals Trains for New Sport Despite ‘Struggling To Walk’
A former US Olympian, who was stripped of her medals and later served time in prison, is now training for a new sport, despite revealing she 'struggles to walk'.
At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Marion Jones emerged as one of the biggest stars in athletics - becoming the first woman in history to win five medals at a single Games.
They included golds in the 100m, 200m and the 4x400m relay and bronzes in the long jump and 4x100m relay.
However, following years of speculation about her using banned substances, she finally confessed in 2008 and was stripped of her Olympic medals.
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She pleaded guilty to charges of lying to federal investigators in 2003 about using performance-enhancing drugs and was sentenced to six months in prison, two years of supervised release and 800 hours of community service.
Jones was released in September 2008 and has spent her time since then helping others deal with setbacks in life, while battling her own health struggles.
Last month, she shared a video on Instagram of herself struggling to walk down a set of stairs.
In the clip, Jones said: “They [knees] are hanging on by a thread, fam… but we’re still standing.”
She captioned the post: "It’s always “Are you Marion Jones?! You were the fastest woman in the world once!” And never “how are your knees doing?”
Despite that, she has since posted another video in which she appears to be training for a triathlon by taking part in a running event.
Over footage of her crossing the line, she wrote: "POV; you're a former Olympian taking on a new sport at 49 and the announcer says this."
The event announcer can then be heard saying: "Come on, you're right there.
"Marion Jones, a very famous name.
"You know she's going to run fast. Good job. Marion Jones out of Pflugerville.
"Welcome home, Marion."
Jones appeared to be enjoying the attention from the announcer, captioning the post: "That 'welcome home' really hits."
After a successful sprinting career, Jones has carried that athleticism into the world of triathlon, competing in her first event in May, which she won.
"I hope that this journey with the triathlon and training and all that it embodies, inspires someone who thinks that it's too much work to pull themselves out of a tough place," she said.
"It's not worth it, I'm never going to be able to reach my goal, I'm never going to be able to come back from this hard thing.
"Yes, you can, I did that and it was hard and I was out of my comfort zone."
James Taylor