02 Nov 2010 01:42:13
Disgraced Olympic sprinter Marion Jones apologizes repeatedly in a new memoir over the doping scandal which ended her Olympic career, but she doesn't expect her staunchest critics to ever see the "big picture."
"I can help one million kids not make bad decisions in their lives, and those critics will still be talking about performance-enhancing drugs because that's the bubble they live in," said Jones, who is opening up in her book "On the Right Track" and a new TV documentary on U.S. sports channel, ESPN.
"I've paid the consequences for my lie, and now I want to help people not make certain choices," she told Reuters.
Jones won three gold and two bronze medals for the United States at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she was the golden girl of the Games with a smiling face that was perfect for television. But she was forced to return the medals after admitting she lied about using performance-enhancing drugs, though she has never admitted to knowingly doing so.
"On the Right Track," just published by Simon and Schuster imprint Howard Books, traces Jones' fall from grace -- including a six-month prison sentence and 48 days in solitary confinement stemming from a fight with a fellow inmate -- and her comeback as a professional basketball player.
A documentary, "Marion Jones: Press Pause," will air November 2 on cable's ESPN network.
Once hailed as the fastest woman in the world, Jones for years claimed she was not doping. In 2008, however, she admitted lying to investigators when denying that she knowingly took the banned substance tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) before the 2000 Olympics. She was sentenced to six months at Carswell federal prison in Fort Worth -- a women's prison that she writes could "deaden the spirit."
"I'm the type of person, I like to be in control. I like to know what's going on and I like to prepare," she said. "In terms of perks, I certainly got none."
Her husband Obadele Thompson, a former Olympic sprinter, visited her often, but Jones did not allow her two children because she didn't want them to see their mother behind bars.
"I can help one million kids not make bad decisions in their lives, and those critics will still be talking about performance-enhancing drugs because that's the bubble they live in," said Jones, who is opening up in her book "On the Right Track" and a new TV documentary on U.S. sports channel, ESPN.
"I've paid the consequences for my lie, and now I want to help people not make certain choices," she told Reuters.
Jones won three gold and two bronze medals for the United States at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she was the golden girl of the Games with a smiling face that was perfect for television. But she was forced to return the medals after admitting she lied about using performance-enhancing drugs, though she has never admitted to knowingly doing so.
"On the Right Track," just published by Simon and Schuster imprint Howard Books, traces Jones' fall from grace -- including a six-month prison sentence and 48 days in solitary confinement stemming from a fight with a fellow inmate -- and her comeback as a professional basketball player.
A documentary, "Marion Jones: Press Pause," will air November 2 on cable's ESPN network.
Once hailed as the fastest woman in the world, Jones for years claimed she was not doping. In 2008, however, she admitted lying to investigators when denying that she knowingly took the banned substance tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) before the 2000 Olympics. She was sentenced to six months at Carswell federal prison in Fort Worth -- a women's prison that she writes could "deaden the spirit."
"I'm the type of person, I like to be in control. I like to know what's going on and I like to prepare," she said. "In terms of perks, I certainly got none."
Her husband Obadele Thompson, a former Olympic sprinter, visited her often, but Jones did not allow her two children because she didn't want them to see their mother behind bars.
