Former Olympian Marion Jones strives to turn her negative image into positive by contending that she was unaware of the illegal substance administration into her system according to the report of Imaeyen Ibanga of ABC News. Ibanga’s report said that the disgraced sprinter recognizes the stain to her reputation would last forever, but she said she would want to help others while she is in her post-prison life.

“I have paid the ultimate price,” she said during her interview on “Good Morning America.” “For the rest of my life, certain people will equate me with this controversy. And throughout all of this I’ve learned I’ve hurt a lot of people and it’s my responsibility to give back,” she added.

Every sport aficionado knows that Jones is a prominent personality: the once distinguished top runner of her game, which made her gain the admiration of the nation. Her life in sports was described by Ibanga to be filled with so much glitter of gold medals that she won from the circuit of Olympics. Unfortunately, her fame was turned into shame when her involvement to a doping scandal was revealed. Stripping from her the gold medals she won. And the then fastest woman in the world were confined in cell for six months after she was convicted last January of telling lies to federal prosecutors regarding her use of performance enhancing drugs including her participation in a check-fraud scam. “I was in a much different place in my life. I made much different choices. I made bad decisions,” Jones uttered, regretting to miss the first birthday of her youngest son due to her imprisonment.

Ibanga reported that even until now, the athlete still asserts about her innocence on the administration of the illegal substance. “That’s the truth. I have experienced a lot of negative consequences for what I’ve admitted,” she mentioned. “When you’re a high-profile person, you trust certain people around you. You trust they will have your best interests in mind.”

Jones said during her first post-prison interview with Ophrah Winfrey that she has decided not to compete anymore. Jones also mentioned during the interview that she did not expect to receive something more beyond legal vitamins. Jones also uttered confidently on one part of the interview that she believes she would still achieve her medals even without the aid of performance enhancement drugs. All in all, Jones was able to gather three gold medals with two bronze in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The statement of Jones about her innocence to the administration of the illegal drugs to her system is certainly hard to believe now, especially when her former husband, C.J. Hunter, also admitted his involvement to doping. Ibanga stated that the continuos denial of Jones triggers more people to doubt her claims, particularly her involvement to drug usage.
 
In fact, one of the readers commented that the sole reason why the disgraced athlete admitted fault is because she was caught. More comments about Jones reflect the consequences of the lies she said previously—losing the trust of many. It seems that the sole thing needed by Jones this time is public forgiveness in order for her to move on with her life with peace.

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