Marion Jones the Olympian today admitted what people in the sports business have been accusing her of doing the past 7 years. During all those years, she won every award available in track and field, which will probably all be taken away from her. She is also completely broke not only financially but I am guessing more important in spirit.
What breaks my heart most is the waste of it all. I knew her when she was a teen because for one year she went to high school with my daughter. She was a beautiful, sweet, extraordinary athletic child who celebrated her wins, along with the other kids in the school. She could not only run faster than any girl in the school but she could also beat every boy. Watching her the past 7 years, you would think she would have teased the other students, but the kid we knew is not the professional athlete who in hindsight was led down a very ugly path. The Marion we knew was still facinated by her own capabilities and shared her successes with us. She wasn't known in the outside world yet.
She was still enjoying the thrill of running.
You see this was before the media, managers, hangers on, lawyers and money grubbers and dope peddlers got ahold of her and convinced her to switch to another high school with more visibility. She moved on up to the big time to quote George Jefferson and with it lost everything she was.
The saddest thing is that I really believe she was good enough to win on her own. When competing with the kids, she was a blur as she ran past. It was so fast, one could barely tell the color of her school sports outfit. Her potential was unlimited, and maybe if she had stayed in our small town with the people who loved her giving her advice, it would have turned out better.
What I do hope for Marion Jones is an opportunity to fill her potential. Her sports career is obviously over but she is still an absolutely beautiful girl, she has admitted in tears in front of everyone how she messed up her life and I truly hope she has learned enough the past 7 years to understand that what made everyone love her in high school is still a part of her and if holds her head high and learns from her mistakes, she will always be welcomed home to become one of us again.
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6 comments:
Can you teach me how to forward your blog to her?
And by the way, I am very angry. Think of the girls who DID NOT CHEAT and therefore, did not win. Not once, not twice, but . . . .
However, as low as she has to rightfully feel, I think your blog comments would be the right thing for her to read.
I was thinking the exact same thing, Moosie. There must be a way to get this to her for her to read..
I heard about this on the news the other day and just felt so sad for her...she had it all and yet threw it all away. Imagine her own coach giving her the drugs, knowing they were banned substances. We went through all of this with our Canadian Ben Johnson when he was stripped of his gold medal...Ben was raised here in Sudbury and we all knew him, knew his potential and love of running and to have it end the way it did...well, just know that I know exactly how you're feeling about Marion. xoxo
Whether she took the banned substances knowingly or not, she knowingly lied about it to family, friends, the public and federal officals and she will have to live with her deceit the rest of her life. How she struggles with this self-imposed burden will be the ultimate test of her strength and courage.
She blew it. She made a major mistake. She will pay the price. I'm thinking that she is thinking that it would be nice if she could erase all the mistakes that she made and redo her life, but alas, that is not an option.
The sports writers around the country (including our own County newspaper) are calling her tears fake and her apology worthless. It is said she was an obnoxious winner who constantly denied her drug use (no duh!!) The question is can she recover her dignity when her medals are stripped and she serves a possible jail sentence plus has no money after all?
I hope she comes out of it with class and a gracious manner and hopefull she will be given the opportunity to find a different path to something successful. We shall just have to wait and watch.
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