Marion Jones Timeline

SI Staff | Jan 11, 2008

Marion Jones Timeline /

Marion Jones Timeline

1992

Misses making the Olympic team by .07 when she finishes fourth in the 200 and declines a spot as a 4x100 relay alternate because, as she said, "when people come to see my gold medals, I want to be able to say I ran for them."

1994

Helps lead the North Carolina basketball team to a national championship.

1997

Forced to miss the Atlanta Olympics because of an injury first suffered on a basketball court at the World University Games, she gives up basketball and focuses on track and field, taking gold in the 100 at the World Championships in Athens.

1998

Marries shot putter C.J. Hunter, both of whom have designs on competing in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

1999

Wins a gold in the 100 and a bronze in the long jump at the World Championships in Sevilla, Spain.

2000

Running under a cloud of suspicion after reports surface that Hunter failed a drug test, Jones wins three gold (100, 200, 4x400 relay) and two bronze medals (long jump, 4x100 relay) down under.

2001

Loses her first 100 meter race in six years at the World Championships in Edmonton, where she did collect two golds (200, 4x100 relay).

2001

Hunter retires. He and Jones divorce the following year.

2002

Sets the meet record at the Prefontaine Classic with a 10.90 in the 100.

2003

Jones and world class sprinter Tim Montgomery announce the birth of their son. Jones misses the 2003 World Championships but prepares for the 2004 Olympics.

2004

A year after Jones' former coach, Trevor Graham, anonymously mails a syringe to the U.S. anti doping agency, Hunter tells the San Francisco Chronicle he injected Jones with banned substances and saw her inject herself. Jones denies the allegations.

2004

Jones fails to medal at the Athens Olympics, finishing fifth in the long jump, her only individual event.

2004

BALCO founder Victor Conte tells a national tv audience watching ABC that he gave Jones illegal performance enhancing drugs before, during and after the 2000 Olympics.

2005

Montgomery retires after being banned for two years because of doping violations.

2006

Jones tests positive for a banned substance at the U.S. Championships. She is later cleared by her second sample.

October 2007

Jones pleads guilty to lying to federal investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.

December 2007

The IOC strips Jones of her five Olympic medals won in Sydney.

January 2008

Despite pleas that Jones be shown leniency, a judge sentences her to six months in prison.

Published Jan 11, 2008

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