Once the fastest woman in the world, her life has changed drastically since 😳🏃‍♀️ Read more 👇️

Team USA Star Stripped of Olympic Medals and Sent to Prison Now ‘Struggles to Walk’

American athlete, Marion Jones, celebrated the millennium on top of the world. The Los Angeles-born sprinter secured Olympic gold in the women’s 100m and 200m, securing a hat-trick in Team USA’s triumph in the women’s 4x400m relay at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Prior to the Olympics, Jones had impressed in the World Championships, securing two gold medals in Athens (1997) along with gold and bronze in Seville (1999).

Jones completed a memorable Sydney 2000 with two more bronze medals, taking her haul to a record-breaking five in the same Games, the first woman ever to achieve such a feat. The celebrations were unfortunately short-lived, however, as her world came crashing down after it was finally revealed in 2007 that the American had in fact been taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Stripped of Olympic Medals & Sent to Prison

In a painful admission of guilt, Jones confessed to using the banned steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) provided at the time by her coach Trevor Graham under the guise of it being Flaxseed oil.

Jones was quizzed by federal investigators in November 2003 amid allegations that THG had shown in a sample. Her initial denial became a guilty plea, and in 2008, the sprinter was charged with perjury and sentenced to eight months in prison.

Jones’ historic wins in Sydney, and then later in Edmonton’s World Championships in 2001, were all chalked off and later ranked as disqualification.

Marion Jones’ Life Now is Very Different

Life has been very different since leaving the track for Jones following her release from prison in September 2008. The former star, once famed for her speed, has slowed significantly due to battling a condition that leaves her struggling to walk.

A 2020 diagnosis confirmed that Jones had an autoimmune disease called neuromyelitis optica. The disease causes temporary paralysis and has affected the former Olympian’s movement significantly.

Taking to Instagram, she posted a video in November of the struggles imposed on her by the disease, stating: “They [knees] are hanging on by a thread, fam… but we’re still standing.” The attached video showed her navigating her way down a set of stairs.

The pain doesn’t just extend to Jones’ physical being. Many remember the days when records were broken and medals were won and for those that Marion Jones now meets outside the world she once existed in, people still hold on to those memories. “It’s always “Are you Marion Jones?! You were the fastest woman in the world once!” And never “how are your knees doing?” she said in her post.

Despite all that has gone before, it appears that Marion Jones has now found a new direction in the wake of scandal and incarceration. She now spends her days coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs, offering a helping hand to those who need lifting.

Speaking with ABC News journalist Robin Roberts, Jones was philosophical about her future, saying: “Well, I would hope that people would look at my journey, Robin, and ultimately come to the conclusion that failure isn’t forever.”