Prolebrity: Beyond the Game

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Track And Drugs

I felt sorry for Marion Jones when I heard she was going to jail because I believe she had bad people around her and, as a result, the decisions she made were not in her best interest.

This verdict happened to come at a time when my sport had been getting a lot of negative press and many athletes in track and field were being found guilty of making similar bad decisions. It seemed like every day another top athlete was caught using performance enhancing drugs.

I couldn’t believe it. The sport that I love and have worked so hard to bring to the world was falling apart. I know that athletes want to be the best and I know that athletes will do just about anything to be the best — But not me.

I worked everyday to become better and I had no doubt in my mind that I could do it with hard work. I have a daughter and nieces and nephews who look up to me. So drugs were never an option.

I feel strongly about this for many reasons. The first one is simple: There are many other athletes, like myself, who work hard every day to be the best. Then, someone else takes a shot, and all of my hard work was for nothing.

A second reason is that the athletes using are hurting the potential for endorsements that bring attention to the sport as well as financial reward. I have had potential sponsors tell me, “Why should we give you a deal when you’re going to come up positive for a drug test? We’re not saying you personally, but it’s happening a lot in your sport. So, we would rather take our chances on another Olympic athlete in another sport.”

As I mentioned earlier, when I heard Marion Jones was going to jail, I felt bad for her. She is a wonderful person and was a great athlete. I know that if she had been surrounded by different people, her choices would have been different.

I’m not sure why she chose to use drugs because she had an incredible natural talent, and I hate to see that talent get smeared. Even still, if it were my decision, she would have been banned.

Retiring this past February was one of the hardest decisions that I have ever had to make in my life. I had struggled with the decision for several months and talked about it with a close friend and just prayed on it. I retired because of the constant injuries to my body. It’s not that I don’t think that I can keep competing at the top level. It’s more of the mental battle that I go through to recover from an injury. I have done this for the last 3 years and mentally I’m tired of having this battle with myself. And I decided to retire.

I have had a wonderful career and I feel that I don’t have anything else to prove in track. I have broken records, won medals, traveled the world, met great people, everything. I have had a fulfilling career and I am ready to move on with something else.