It’s been all quiet on the Marion Jones front for the past decade…until now. In the midst of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the former fastest woman in the world is back in the public eye opening up about her unique journey, identifying as LGBTQ+ and how she is redefining success. ESSENCE had the chance to sit down with Jones to discuss her second act.
In 2000, Jones was on top of the world at the Sydney Olympic Games. The reigning queen of track won five Olympic medals for Team USA, three gold and two bronze. But a few years later Jones became embroiled in a performance-enhancing drugs scandal. This culminated in 2008 with a six-month long prison sentence, being stripped of all her Olympic medals in addition to all of “her performances as of September 2000 [being]…erased from the record books.”
Two years later, Jones was back displaying immense athletic prowess, pursuing a career in basketball, her other passion. She played for almost two seasons in the WNBA with the Tulsa Shock, before stepping away.
Subsequently, Jones was content with leading a life away from the press, but this past June during Pride Month, Jones opened up on Instagram, saying “I wanted to share with you…I do identify with the LGBTQ community, I have for a long time…It’s something that has shaped who I am as a human being…in my childhood, I started to feel different as a woman of color, as a queer woman. As a woman who is almost 50 years old, I am now comfortable being in my own skin, and being who I am.”
“The news that I identify as gay is not new to my family or to me or to my community, but I know because I made the choice to step away from the spotlight for over a decade, the world wasn't up to date,” Jones told ESSENCE. “For so long, I hid certain elements of who I am, who I was…and where I'm at now in my life, it's full transparency.”
“I share with people that their comeback from hard stuff is bigger than their setback, and I needed to be fully transparent,” said Jones. When asked “Why now?” Jones responded that “It was time for people to hear who I am, but even more so for people that might be struggling with their own identity, to see that they're not by themselves.”
A familiar sense of determination was palpable in Jones’ countenance during the discussion, especially when it turned to this year’s competitive field of athletes vying for medals in Paris. “I am here cheering them along, praying for them and really hoping that they use this platform of theirs, which is a very, very short season,” Jones shared. “I hope they realize that sport, their events, their disciplines, is for a short time.” Her advice: “start setting yourself up for life after sport, making sure that people who are 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 excited for what’s in store, “I'm in a space right now where I'm happy in my skin and I know that the choices I'm making now are truly intended to help people live better, stronger lives.” The 48-year-old recently launched a new partnership with Driven Inc., a coaching program for professionals and entrepreneurs. In her words, we “teach the tools to entrepreneurs on how to come back from tough times, and win in life.”
“I get the opportunity to do what I love and train people in fitness, but then I also get to coach people in the mindset on how to get up from hard times, how to pull yourself up, deal with consequences, [and] get past it,” stated Jones. “Not many people can understand or relate to being an Olympic champion or a convicted felon, but everybody on this planet has dealt with some type of failure."
"Failure looks very different for everybody and everybody, at some point, has struggled with how to get past it. I've had the highest level of success, but I've also been knocked down a lot because of the choices that I made. What I do know is how to pull myself up. I know the tools on how to win again, and that's what I'm so passionate about sharing with people.”
“Failure does not need to be forever,” Jones emphatically stated. “People are bigger than their mistakes in life and it doesn't define who they are.”