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The 700 Club’s Special Correspondent, Scott Ross spoke with track superstar, Marion Jones about her public fall after winning Olympic gold. She says, “This is an individual who has graced the covers of Time Magazine, Vogue Magazine, is making millions of dollars, household name, and I am in a cell (federal prison) the size of a bathroom, just me and my thoughts and my Bible, pictures of my kids, and my memories.”

She was born fast — a sprinting spectacle – an Olympic champion. Powerful and poised, Marion Jones was a track and field icon – the fastest woman in the world.

“I fed off of that emotion. I looked forward to it. I anticipated it that at that moment everything that I had worked for came down to those 10, 11 seconds. All eyes were going to be on me, and I had to perform.”
Scott Ross: “How did fame affect you?”
Marion: “I thought that I was handling right. But, looking in hindsight I certainly wasn’t. I had got caught up, as I like to say, ‘in the wave of fame.’”
The tide ebbed for Marion in 2008 when the door slammed on a federal prison cell for her role in the infamous Balco affair, a steroid abuse investigation. Marion claims her coach introduced the steroid known as ‘the clear’, a banned substance, as the nutrient, flaxseed oil. When investigators probed, she denied any knowledge of it, only to end up 6 months in prison.
Scott: “That’s pretty harsh stuff.”
Marion: “It is. It was one of the hardest federal female prisons in the country. I found myself in a situation that I had to defend myself. Because of that, I was in solitary confinement for over 45 days. I was locked up 23 out of 24 hours a day. And many times 24 out of 24 hours a day.”

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Marion Jones On Fame, Her Public Downfall, And The Grace of God  was originally published on praisecleveland.com

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