Marion Jones: Redemption, Resilience & Hitting Her Boldest Stride

What happens when the fastest woman in the world steps into The Coop? You get a no-holds-barred conversation that’s equal parts jaw-dropper, life coach, and soul shake.

Featuring Olympic gold medalist, WNBA pro, and fellow Tar Heel, Marion Jones—a true legend who has lived the highest highs and lowest lows on a very public stage. A woman who soared, stumbled, and showed up with more heart than ever. From field day phenom to global icon, prison time to present-day purpose, Marion’s story is one of grit, grace, and finding your second wind.

This isn’t just an interview in The Coop—it’s a masterclass in starting over, laughing through the mess, and owning every single chapter of your story.

In this episode:

• The 9-year-old chalkboard prophecy that sparked a gold medal dream

• The time her dad showed up at a game—and she never saw him again

• What it feels like to be in the starting blocks at the Olympics

• What really happened with the federal investigation and prison sentence

• 49 days in solitary confinement: how it broke her down and built her back up

• Motherhood, mental health, and rewriting your story at 50

Plus: prison fights, creatine gummies, and the wild “Prudes vs. Nudes” UNC track meet-up you didn’t know you needed to hear about.

This episode is fast, funny, and full of feeling—and proves that failure doesn’t define you.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or watch on YouTube.

✨ Follow the show and send this one to someone who needs a reminder: your lowest moment isn’t your last and failure doesn’t define you. There’s always a second wind.

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This episode was produced by Kit Hoover and Harper McDonald. Business Development by Casey Ladd. Editing by You & Me Media.

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Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI. Some inaccuracies may exist.

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From the highest highs to the deepest lows, Marion Jones has lived a life at full speed on the track, in the spotlight, and now in real life.

Today's conversation is a coaching masterclass, meets comeback story. We got grit, grace, light, and new wisdom. Marion was once known as the fastest woman on earth, A five time Olympic medalist, A-W-N-B-A player, a phenom, a force, and then a fall from Grace that made headlines around the world. But today's Marion Jones.

She's not here to relive the past. She's here to share what she's learned from it about purpose, pressure, parenting, and starting over with grace. This is one of those conversations, y'all, that stays with you. Alright, let's get into it. Marion Jones is in the coop. 

welcome to the coop, 

my friend Marion Jones, fellow Tarheel. Yay. 

So excited. Have you had another Tar Hillel in this chair? You were my 

first Tarheel. 

Okay. 

Here we last. And truth be told, we are not teammates. We ran it [00:01:00] different years, but we both ran Track, university of North, and you know, 

to say that we are team we're like once you, even if you didn't compete in a sport, like it's just family.

You were the Olympian though, was ready to get into all of that. Okay. I think I carried the water. well we are so excited to have you here and we always start the coop. 

One word to describe where you are in your life right now, Marion. 

Just resilient. that one just resonates with me and like my supporters and my family, and it's just been a not so easy road.

My, my journey is the perfect example for people who are like, I can't do this. For whatever reason, they're knocked down or they knock themselves down or whatever. You don't have to stay there, you can come back and even 

stronger.

Yeah. 

 it's such a huge point. I so admire people. but anybody that's been knocked down, and the irony is we all get knocked down at different levels. Yeah. Right? Yeah. But the ones, the greats, the true champions mirror, I feel like can lift themselves up.

They're not defined by that. Yeah. And they sort of make their [00:02:00] mess, their mission and they move forward. beyond inspiring. 

Tell me about your new podcast. 

Oh, it's called Second Wind. and I have so much like Joy radiates for me when I, I get to talk about it because it is really, a passion project.

it's one that I've wanted to, to do for a long time. I love people. I love people's stories, and any way that I can bridge a gap between potentially mine and others. In the hopes of inspiring people. it's what I wanted to do. So this project called Second Win.

And it's just as it sounds, it's en entertainers, entrepreneurs, celebrities, athletes, everyday heroes whom have experienced some type of failure in their lives and they are on their second wind in life. And, it's been just remarkable to hear people's journeys, but 

 Like always, I'm telling my story, I know everybody knows my story. So finally I get to like dive into someone else's 

story. [00:03:00] That's a little bit refreshing.

I wanna dive into your story. Not so much everybody knows the headlines, but what happened before and what happened after. But let's start with you as a little girl. 

What was Lil Marion Jones like? First of all, you had to win every like field day, like every running race. Were you chosen captain of every team?

The highlights as a kid was being chosen for my brother's. My brother's five years older than me, so that's everything. When he's 10, I'm five. and that was probably the first time that I'm like, oh, 

okay. And he's picking me Yes. Over his buddies. Yes. Yes. By the way, in my neighborhood, uh, the guy's name was John Quigley and he was three years older and he always picked me first we'd play tackle football, and my nickname was Little Ferrari, and it meant the world to me.

 shout out to John Quigley again to pick me over all the neighborhood boys. Yes. And I was three years younger. Yeah. Okay. So your brother would pick you at five. 

I was just, my mom would describe me as just an intense little girl. always wanted to be [00:04:00] into something, doing something loved every sport. My mom, my mom was a single parent. had my brother and I, and I can remember soccer, gymnastics, And until track and field reared its head, I think I was six or seven, a little community. Oh. track and field meet. And it was a pivotal moment, I think, in my life.

because back then they would have all the kids run different heats. And this was before, I realized that you had to run fast even if you were ahead, because it was all based off of time. If there was 20 heats of the 400. Right. It's not, you don't get a medal just because you win your heat, 'cause you won that.

It's greater. I didn't understand that. At seven. Okay. And so after all of the heats were, were done, I'm sitting in the middle of the field and they're, they're saying, okay, girls age seven, 400 meters. And I'm just waiting. You proudly, like, let's, let's start this, bring it ahead. And I might've [00:05:00] gotten a third place ribbon and I just didn't understand.

So I politely got up and I got my ribbon, walked up to the stands. I showed my stepdad and my mom, I was in tears. My stepdad walked me down for them to explain. And lesson learned like, just because you're ahead, you don't ease up. 

Yep. 

Right. and I, I remember throwing that, that ribbon in the trash.

I. Because that's not what was going to 

define 

me at all. and just from there it just, everything blossomed and I dabbled in basketball. Then started to have a passion for that as well.

 How instrumental were your stepdad and mom and sort of guiding you and setting you on the right path? You clearly had the championship spirit. Yeah. But to put that in the right place. 

So very important.

My stepdad, was a Dodger fan and a Lakers fan, and that's where my, like, my passion for sport, watching it, like talking about it. He made a point to make me after the. The [00:06:00] games, the races, whatever was on television. He would make me sit and watch the, like, the post competition interviews. And he would point out the athletes that were humble, he would point out the athletes that were, that were smart or, or understood their craft and could communicate it in a way that, you know, came off very well.

and I never understood why, but man, it absolutely made an impression. Um, you saw where you were going. Yeah. And, and my mom just was trying to like, keep this fire of a child. Like, she doesn't just like kill herself. Right. on the weekends, we'd ride our bike to the local elementary school and I would climb on the roof and fall down and bust up my leg.

 I also grew up in Palmdale, which is about an hour and a half, outside of Los Angeles. And there, there was this bike route for kids called the, you. 

And they had this big dip. Right. And I must have been eight or nine years old. Are you? Hit that jump. Oh, my brother and I, it was, it, it was like a, a mission. We would set it up [00:07:00] for weeks. We would have our little backpack and our snacks and we would say bye to my mom and my, our stepdad. 

 There was a Kmart that she knew we would stop at to get some, a sip of water. Yep. I think maybe I had a dollar in my pocket. We might. Some chips. 

That's so great. I would never, like, I'm thinking about that like with my kids as a mom now. No. No way. There is no 

way in hell no.

No way. On all of this. And even, I mean, even now I have Life 360 on their phones. I know where they are and I'm still wor calling them and text messaging them. Our 

parents couldn't 

find 

us if they wanted to. And it, you, you were literally outside from sunup to sundown and then you gotta be in for dinner 

and then if 

you 

weren't, that's when y'all But in the middle hit the fan is don't play 

in the traffic they used to say.

Yeah. And don't come 

inside. Like I remember. Do not come inside. Do not come 

inside 

So wait, did you hit the jump and something happened? I'm sure I hit the jump. I'm sure I got scraped up, but I mean, the memories are like incredible. 

I'll back up a little bit. because at nine my stepfather passed away. 

Oh. 

[00:08:00] and my mom was like forced again to be a single parent, which is a challenge. My mom would commute from Palmdale to Beverly Hills. and so that was a very hard time. In my life also, at that point, well, long before that, my biological father and my mother had divorce when I was three.

but I, you know, up after my stepfather passed, it was, I just was a bit lost. and my mom was just trying, and I'm a teenage girl.

 seeing my mom just like really go through it, wanting a relationship with my biological father and not understanding why he didn't wanna be a part of my life. So, um, it's that. And so I poured everything into sport.

Everything. It was everything to me. I, I was never the teenage girl whom did parties. Like I, I went to bed on a Thursday night because I had a game on Friday. Mm-hmm. Right. I'm waiting at the door with my bag, waiting for my mom, mom, like, let's go. [00:09:00] So that just gives you a little bit of like the motivation behind that really important like, time in my life.

How did 

you handle the grief of your stepdad? Again, you were only nine, so Yeah. I'm sure you weren't even sure how you were processing clearly through sports, but how did, how were you able to move through that? 

Ported all onto the field, onto the track and it's. One of the reasons that I really, really push the importance of mental health is because I am also part of a culture whereby, wasn't something that you spoke about.

You never spoke about it, that you, you certainly weren't paying somebody to go Yeah. And Right. They call it, you know, airing your dirty laundry. 

So, it was, it was a very hard time for me. Very hard time for me. But, you know, I, I was dealing with the mental health part on one end, but I was like thriving on the sports side. Right. And that was able to kind of disguise, I. Like really what was going on, 

because I was, I mean, excelling. 15 years [00:10:00] old, 

I made my first Olympic team incredible in the, in the sport of, of track and field. 

 In 84, I was nine.

The Olympics came to Los Angeles and my mom, took me to the athlete parade. This is during a time when the athletes prior to the games would be paraded in the streets of the city so that the local community, they don't do that anymore. and I remember, I, I don't know what street it was here in, in Los Angeles, I remember my holding my mom's hand and just seeing the athletes like paraded by.

And that summer I watched the games for the first time. And like I was in awe 

manifesting. 

I was like, yes, like that needs to be me. I didn't know what sport. I needed to feel what they felt when they were about to cross that line. and maybe you've heard the story, but my, my mom had purchased a chalkboard for my room, for the, my homework assignments.

and that summer I wrote I was gonna be an Olympic champion. This is at nine years old. This was in 84. I was nine. And so I, I [00:11:00] think pouring into the sport and the death of my stepfather and the decision for my biological father to not be a part of my life, it just kind of all like inner wove, 

I, and knowing that my mom, who is from a, a small, small country Belize, knowing that she came up to the US to, create a better life for herself and for her kids.

Right. So you have like that bit of motivation as well. and I thrived in sports. 

 So at the age of 6, 16, 17, I 

I, I felt something pulling me to the East coast, like pulling me, like maybe just away from everything, everything. Here. And I was also going through that adolescent thing with daughter and mother.

Right. I'm like, I wanna, I wanna get away right. And do my own thing. And I took a visit to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. and I just fell in love. 

which is crazy because a lot of the track world just expected me to stay here in California.

So strong in the sport. Oh my gosh. You know, you have USC and [00:12:00] UCLA and Stanford, and when I made the decision to accept a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina, people provide. Especially in the track world. Like what? Well, because I knew that any university that I attended was Go, was going to want me to run track.

Yes. Right. But basketball, I had started later and I wanted to make sure, that I was able to play. And the Uni University of North Carolina the women's team at that point hadn't had a lot of winning success.

So you got there, won, won the national championship. and my freshman year, right. posted on my Instagram. I said, it's March Madness. We all love March Madness, let me, let me take you back. Yeah. You wanna see something exciting? Type in 1994, buzzer, beater. And you'll see like, and I, I just felt so blessed to be a part of that team.

It was 

incredible. 

Something in 

freshman year. So you win the national championship in basketball, when does track really start to take shape at UNC and getting ready for the Olympics? 

It never really took any [00:13:00] shape while I was there. You understand? my freshman year we won the title, so we go deep in March. I mean, in every year I'm there.

we go deep in March and, I never competed in indoor while in college really, because I, we were always deep in March. so by the time I would get out to the track season, we were at district championships. 

 I remember I was at Duke, and it was the a CC championships that was outdoor. And I false started in the hundred. 'cause I hadn't been in the blocks in however long. I had a much different body because I had like a basketball body. I had 15 extra pounds. 

I I did not look like 

the 

15-year-old 

who made the Olympic team at all.

and so I dabbled, I like to say I dabbled in track. I think I was an All American in college. I love it. I'm sure you were. I'm gonna say yes. I'm gonna say yes maybe, but it wasn't, it wasn't a thing. I was also in their basketball scholarship, so Yeah, like they were gonna make sure they, they rung that drive, which, 

how great for you if you're a few athletes at your level, get [00:14:00] both, get to have that feeling.

Okay. So you graduate and is that when you put full focus on track? 

Yes. I'll back up just for a second. Wait. Oh yeah. My sophomore year after we won the title, Carolina was seated in the West. So we came out here and we played Stanford in the Sweet 16 at Poly Pavilion at UCLA. So I was excited because it was my first time playing in college in California, in Los Angeles.

First time, like I'm coming back. And so there were some friends and some family, and we were losing to Stanford. We were playing poorly. And I remember running into the locker room at halftime. We were down and just casually looking in the stands and seeing my father. Oh, I hadn't seen my father in however many years.

And, you know, I couldn't stop or anything, but I, I acknowledged him, played in the second half we lost. So that was tough, but hang on. Mm-hmm. You see him in the stands. What did that feel like? I was just in shock. I mean, I had been so far removed trying to cope with that and how I, [00:15:00] which was, put it behind me, not think about it.

Right. And then all of a sudden, like he's there and we lose. And I came out to acknowledge, you know, my friends that had come to the game and maybe see him and I couldn't find him. And my father passed away in 2001 and I never got an opportunity to any of that. Yes. Wait a minute. Yeah. Okay. So he 

comes to the game, you lock eyes, 

you have 

all kinds of feelings after the game.

You don't find him and you never see him again. 

No. Never, never, never saw him again. and I found out years later that, you know, he had been collecting articles and making a scrapbook and Yeah. So it's a lot of, a lot of 

unanswered questions. You had a lot of grief early on in your life. 

Yeah. 

You have all this bubbled up in you. So now that's two male figures in your life. Yeah. Was anybody there to help you through this? 

 my mom was there to a point that I allowed her to be, there were coaches. Yeah. You know, but [00:16:00] again, I am the type of.

Athletes whereby if I have a coach, like I'm all in when it comes to that sport. Right? So I wasn't coming to practice in tears. Tears. And like, they never, right. No. I would manifest that all into I'm beating everybody in the sprints 

and so they love that. Yeah. Right. And so they don't see any weakness in that. They don't see anything wrong. With me or that. So you master 

your grief. Yeah. With discipline. Yeah. Hard work guts and that ability to tap in go time. 

Yes. And so, people say, well, how have you been able to, to cope?

Or how have you been able to, to push through hard times? And you said, please. Right. Like I don't wanna say like, that's been my life, but I've, I've learned how to cope. I've learned how to deal with it. And, and I am certainly not saying that that is the healthiest way. Right. Because I, as I'm older now, I know that it is not, but people ask, well, how Well this is how Right.

Yeah. And clearly you were built to handle situations. Okay. Let's [00:17:00] jump You're Sydney Olympics. You win five, five gold. 

Yeah. Five, five medals. Three gold. Two bronze. That's 

incredible. How old are you at this point?

21, 22. 

I mean, I have a 21-year-old, like I think about her right now. Yes, I do. And like we both have, kids are around the same age to reflect and think of where they are in their lives. Yeah. And the pressure you were under in that, we know pressure's a privilege. Yeah. But how were you able to navigate out that?

I mean, you were the golden girl at the Olympics. 

Yes, I was extremely focused. people can look at times from when I was 14 and 15 years old through that time, and you see like there's a natural progression of speed and agility and coordination.

And so by the time I graduated from the University of North Carolina and decided. I was done playing basketball and 

I had so many friends growing up that ran age group track with me, ran high school track, did college track one thing, and dabbled in professional, and then their careers fizzled or got [00:18:00] injured. Well, I kind of got a break. I mean, it wasn't a physical break as I was doing basketball, but it was a break from the rigors of pounding on the track for three or four years.

So I think that definitely helped. and so I graduated and I decided. I'm gonna pick it back up because my goal always was to be the fastest woman in the world, an Olympic champion, and that's the greatest title of all time. 

Fastest Woman in the World. I would, I would wear that on a t-shirt and a hat for like ever.

Like I might get on a necklace, a big necklace like that is just, but remember I learned from 

Ira, my stepdad humble, like, humble pie. Okay, well we're on the 

inside of the house. I know everybody. It's just the coolest. I get it. I understand. I understand. 

So we, I start training. I graduated, I started training full time.

and success came my way. So very, no pun intended, came my way very fast. Mm-hmm. I was US national champion in the hundred and 200 and qualified for the world championships. in Athens. Yeah. That was one that wasn't Athens. and

fastest woman in the [00:19:00] world won the hundred meters there.

What does feel like? So for our listeners, 'cause they're never gonna know, like most won't you get in those blocks. To me that is the most terrifying. Well, first of all, for me, I still hear like. First call, 1600 meter, and my heart starts, I'm like, oh God. Oh God. Okay. You know, second call, you're starting to sled a little bit.

Like, did you run Penn release? Oh, I did do Penn. Were you in the paddock? Yeah, in the paddock bush. In the bush. Did you ever run? Uh, it was, I think it was the Penn release. They used to have the nudes versus the prudes. They had to run late at night. Of course you weren't in that. You were a real runner.

Remember that one? That's a diff That's a different podcast. That's a different one. We'll do that one next. Okay, so back to the, let's get serious. Another question. What'd you say? The news. The news. This verse approved. Let's just say I wasn't approved. Mary, ask for another day. Okay. There's some tequila involved and you run fast.

Oh, I have to Google that one. Please don't. Okay. Back to real stuff. You're getting in the blocks. Yeah. What are you saying to yourself? Because that start is so important. Every time I watch a sprinter raise, I get so [00:20:00] nervous. 

It's just like anything. I mean, we, we practice it, we practice it, we practice it.

I used to think of it like this. You wanna let out all of the negative stuff right before you ask so much of your space of the oxygen, because you're going to like, use it to, its like max. So you blow out in the last moment in the blocks, like, you'll see a lot of s sprinters and I don't know if this is how they think of it, but I would remember like deep breath out and all the crap, all the negative thinking, all of the overthinking, like everything.

I allow it to all come out and I take in all new good stuff because that's what's gonna get me to the finish line all the new. So it's a, it's a very methodical moment where it's right and you tune everything out, right? I would, I would travel all around the world in races and some, in some countries where they're not as respectful to women, while they're in the blocks.

it's a tangent that I'm gonna go down for a second, but there are some countries where, the most sold out part of the [00:21:00] stadium is behind the blocks. 

Gross, gross, gross. Come on. 

 I was probably one of the few female athletes that wouldn't wear what's called the briefs.

Yeah. 

We never wore briefs. I was, before we wore our shorts, like down to our, we wore a baggie running 

shorts. And you wanna, you wanna know why I've never wore the briefs? Because I always thought that if it was helping you to run faster than the men would also be in there. Great call. So why are the women wearing it?

That's a good weight. Right? And why am I digging it out of my bottom? Yeah, right at the finish line. Yes. Like I just never understood 

by the way the briefs came out my senior year, so I graduated in 92 Uhhuh. So just before that it was just the normal shorts. Yeah. And we wore big and baggy. Yeah. Which was not a great look, but, but, but you're that's such a good point.

Yeah. If it was the men would be rocking. Yeah. 

So EE even to this day, I'm like, I don't, I don't get it. Interesting. Um, and I don't remember any other in the professional realm, any other women wearing the short tights like I [00:22:00] do. 

 And, and anyway, so that's a whole other story. But let's get back to the blocks 

because, yeah. So I, anyway, what I like about the breathing from everybody listening, you could use that in life with anything. What I, I have a beautiful, simple. Right out with the bad in with I still do, and it's go time.

I, I, I do it now before interviews. Yeah. I do it now before I train clients. Like before I walk into my daughter's room. Well, yeah. Anybody with teenage daughters? I shared 

with you. I have a 15-year-old daughter. If you're hearing this, you know what I'm talking about. I can, this, oh my, my goodness. I never been more important than if you have a teenage daughter.

Right. So now you 

understand. and then you hear that, you hear the starter say, you know, take your marks and, you know, you raise your hips and all your weight is on your fingertips and just go, thumb goes off. Anyways. 

But, 

what does it feel like to 

run that 

fast? it feels like just like one breath. Like it goes by that fast. It feels like. I don't remember breathing. You don't remember the [00:23:00] steps that just, it happens that, yeah, that fast. 

So for you, just hearing you talk about this and light up and how have you replaced that? Any runner knows, or probably any athlete, but to be able to tap into that emotion, the high and the low, the championship spirit like how do you fill that void?

It's been very hard. I, I so understand, boxers whom, who retire and they come back. I feel like if I was to be given one year to prepare right, that I could. it's not true. Right. But is there something in here that if, if I have no distractions, if I can just train right.

Like I could, I could be competitive. Mm-hmm. But then it's then everything down here below mm-hmm. The bed. It's saying we've, we've done this. 

Hell no. That's what it's saying. Um, but it's something mentally, we just had Lindsay vn on the coop. Okay. And she had retired. Yeah. And look it now, she just said a world, she's back competing.

 and I've dabbled in so many, like, I've, you know, I, I tried, I tried the [00:24:00] distance stuff.

That's not working. I, I don't understand how y'all do it. I, like, I, I'll run a 5K I'll do three or four miles like, like you do now, but really at the four or five mile Yeah. Point. What the hell are that you think about anymore? There's only so many podcasts. As great as this one is, there's only so many that I can listen to.

There's only so many incredible playlists. It 

just becomes Horry. It does, it does. Liz, I'm sitting with you at 30 minutes now. My knees start hurting. I'm like, I can do a solid 30 people all the time. Are you gonna do a marathon? Hell no. I'm not gonna do a marathon. How about a 10 K? Hell no. I'm, 

I'm gonna do 10 k.

Don't ask me that. And so to just get back to your question, I am still searching for something to fill the void. I, I've taken on this year, attempting to do a triathlon, 

which are gonna be unbelievable. 

I'm gonna do well. ' cause 

I, I have so much respect for athletes. Me too. That transition, we were talking from the bike to the run is the worst thing ever.

it's intense. It's three sports. It's [00:25:00] actually four disciplines. It's the bike, it's the swim, it's the cycling. And it's the nutrition. Nutrition. Right. but also I turned 50 

this year. Welcome to the club. Thank you. The fifth level. It's a special club. I hear. I love it. The best is yet 

to come. I needed something. Yeah. I needed to get outta my comfort zone 

because for 10 plus years more than that.

I've just been in like a comfortable place. And I am a believer that especially at 49 50 every year, you have to find something physical that gets you outta your comfort zone.

You have to, 

I think because as you get older, I mean the body changes and if you don't make it do 

something that it would normally, you're not pushiness.

What's the challenge? Yeah. By the way, how funny, you came on set today to my show Access Daily. I was dressed as Glinda, the Good Witch. Which you were like, my friends a Luna Tech. And you heard me talking, I just started creatine. Yeah. So is that good? So good. But you're like, aid it in a gummy and you said, are you sure?

 there's been a myth for decades that Creatine's gonna bulk you [00:26:00] up. You up. Yeah. Like you're gonna look like Arnold Schwartz. Like it's, it's a myth. it's. One of the, the best nutritional supplements that you can take. not only to prevent bone loss and to build strength, but also the data analysis that it really helps and aids in your cognitive stuff.

but you had mentioned, you said that you're taking it in the gummy form, and I will tell you that I've never heard of it. It's in the gummy form. I got it on Instagram. We joke about it today. That. You know, I don't know what type of gummy that will format. I only 

know one type of gummy, well, two, you know, you have the Haribo gummies and you have another type of gum.

Marion looked at me, so you better check your patch. She looked at me like, Fred, listen, I don't know why you keep doing, you

I'm like, this interview, we're gonna get wild Married. Yeah. And you had already had a margarita today. I did a margarita today. I was like, oh Lord. See I like this show. Here we go to come back here more 

often. But no, I think all the data says that like, women should be taking creatin consistently.

How do you feel [00:27:00] about turning 50? I'm excited about it. 

because I wanna see what it's all cracked up to be.

Right? Like I'm active.

I love that. I eat well. I un I understand how important nutrition is and all of that. you know, I'm working on the stressors in my life. Yeah. Which is a thing too that you have to learn how to manage. What do you make stressors these days? My kids? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, know my, my mom is, is beautiful at 70 plus.

and I think, you know, at 50 plus I'm not doing too bad. But you look at all these gray hairs in this 

hat, 

and I know 

where it's from. I said, I've heard to all these in these wrinkles. This is called my three kids. Yeah. I mean that 

to me, I mean, I have handled a lot of stuff.

in my life, my kids and their health and their happiness, and them finding who they are in this hard world is a stress for mama. 

Did you always wanna be a mom? 

Yes. Yes. I, always knew that I could give up it [00:28:00] all just to be mom. it was nice that I could balance some of it, but I 1000% understand how mothers sacrifice for their kids, just 

like your mom did.

No doubt. Like I could order my favorite thing at my favorite restaurant and if, if the 15-year-old daughter sees it and wants it here, you could have it. Mm-hmm. And I don't know, before I had kids, I mean, I was gonna fight for some good lasagna. Yeah. And now I'm just like, here. How would your kids describe you?

they would probably say I'm outdated. I think that they would describe me as I'm caring. I am not a helicopter parent, but I, I wanna, be in the know so that I can help.

and I think sometimes, you know, at that age it's misinterpreted as being too much. But really the more that I know, the more that I could help. 

and do they think it's cool that you're an Olympian? Is you're a gold medal Olympian? Or they, that answer is no. 

 To me that means you're doing it all right. Oh, hope so. I hope 

that [00:29:00] that's good. That's good. And one thing 

I love that as you and I are getting to know one another, I love how everything you overcome, you sort of take it to the next level.

So let's go back. After Sydney, you're in full glory, top of the world, USA's golden child. What happens next? 

Ah, can you curse on this? Yeah. Shit. Hit the fan. Let hit the fan, let's call it. so you to understand during that time. 

And like success came my way very fast. A lot of money, a lot of fame, and a lot of, yes, people surrounded me and that I allowed to surround me. These are people, if you're unsure of that term, people whom would just say Yes. Anything you said, pat you on the back. Yes. That's a great decision. Or Yeah, this, right.

you start to, without any grounding or, or keeping yourself close to like a, a grounding community, like close family, right. You can see where you can get what I call caught in the wave. Yes. Like, it, it takes you further and further out from the reality of the shore. Absolutely. That's, I can, [00:30:00] I can absolutely point to.

That happening to me during that time. and so I surrounded myself and, and I was distant, from my family Yeah. My mom, because my mom would've given it to me straight. Yeah. What the hell? What decision, because I didn't, but I didn't wanna hear it.

Yeah. Right. I'm making a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so, 

and it also was just part of the culture. 

Yeah. And so I, I, I had a coach and I had a manager, I had a husband at the time. And like I knew that I wanted to be the best and I knew that I had God-given talent that was gonna get me there. but you have to also understand during that time, when you compete at that level, like there is an absolute need to make sure that like.

All of your levels are healthy and your, your vitamins and everything, right? So of course I had all the testing, I had doctors I couldn't just walk into a GNC, right? Because during that time a lot of things were tainted. You didn't know what was [00:31:00] in it, right? And we were being drug tested every other week.

So we hired a company, like I hired a company. We, as in my team, I was footing the bill. to create supplements specifically for me that I knew weren't tainted, I knew were clean, all of that. And I also then just relied on everybody around me. They knew that I believed in a drug, Freeport, I knew that I didn't need anything.

and what I was given, I would take, I trusted, like I trust like. I don't, I mean, yes, you have to be careful and all that, but, but it's your team. It's team. You're also focused on other things, team. 

That's their job to bring you what? Yes. 

So I'm taking supplements and this was around the time of the 2000 games, taking supplements, taking what they've told me.

Nothing is any red flags. I'm the most tested athlete in the world. Everything is clean. and 2000 happens and an incredible performance and all of that. And also 

during that [00:32:00] time kit there were, there was a lot of news about certain athletes and, and taking performance, enhancing drugs and getting caught. and I, I saw it all in the news, but again, I was confident that the company that I had hired and, and what I was taking was fine.

Right. Again, I hadn't tested positive, and so fast forward a few months. I was invited, asked by federal investigators to come in and talk to them. All of the top athletes around the world were right about a particular company that I had worked with, that had been in the news for providing these supplements.

So again, I was confident. Yeah. Right. and so my attorneys, uh, you know, anything that you need to share with us? No. Right. Are, do you wanna go and talk with them? Sure, yeah. Okay. So I traveled to San Francisco and I, I sat down in front of federal investigators and they started asking me general questions like, have you heard of this?

Yeah, I've heard about it in the news. Have you seen [00:33:00] this? Like, and they start a lot of questions until the point they started to become more, direct, a little more aggressive. and I even remember my attorneys like calling a timeout and saying, Hey, like. Let's go outside, let's talk. and like getting a sense that I potentially was more being targeted by them, like they thought that I was lying.

So we get to the end of this interview, and I don't even remember how long it was, but hour, two hours, one of them reaches down into their bag and they pull out something in a little Ziploc bag and they kind of like push it across the table. And I'm not being just dramatic in, in describing this.

Like, this was the room, it was a conference room. There was like three of them, and there was three, like we're in front of them. And immediately when he sets it kind of slams it on the table. I look at the little vial of liquid and it looks like something similar that I had taken, But I didn't know.

and he pushes it across the table as he, he says, have you ever seen this? And so I look at it and in a [00:34:00] moment I'm thinking to myself. kind of like an oh shit moment. Like, hmm. If I acknowledge that yes, this is something that I've been given, I've taken, right? And, and even though like I was told it was one thing and they think it's another, if I admit to them that I had taken it, like what would that consequence be?

I thought about that 9-year-old girl riding on her chalkboard, like an Olympic champion and everything up until that point would potentially be questioned, right? And my reputation, like all of that, all your hard work de dedication, all. And so I told them the moment I'm, I'm making now sound a little more traumatic, dramatic.

It wasn't that long, like in that moment, 30 seconds maybe if that. I said, I don't know what that is. I've never taken that great. well at that point they were pretty. Much fed up with me. so I left there not admitting to my, even to my attorneys that I, I, I knew what that was.

I had at least taken it, I had been given it, and it's [00:35:00] not what they said it was. Right. A few years pass, and I'm holding onto 

this. When you leave that meeting, do you take your deep breath? Are you like, okay, we dodge that, or like, sort of what's gonna happen next? Yeah, I, 

I took a deep breath thinking, well, even though I had taken it, like I had still never tested positive.

Yeah, right. and so, hey, maybe this is something that I can just, yeah.

The problem with, with what happened was prior to that meeting, because I believed I had nothing to hide, the federal investigators had given to my attorneys for me to sign what's called a queen for a day letter. So a queen four day letter, and they, they still have it maybe under the name of something else, but you sign it.

And in essence, you're saying that you'll tell the whole truth and no matter what is the truth, we like, we won't come back. And if you killed somebody or if you lied, you can't be prosecuted. And I signed that letter, like believing that I had nothing to, nothing to hide. And so that's, what what I did wrong [00:36:00] is I lied to federal investigators after signing that queen for a day letter.

So a few years go by, I'm still competing, right? but by that point, my first child was born in 2003. And I can remember like, you know, I'm a parent now and you know, you're teaching, you're parenting and you're saying, you know, hey, like you're, if, if you do something wrong, I need for you to come and tell me.

Right. And there're gonna be consequences. Right? And, but you know, the quicker you tell me and we deal with it, we can move on. And then I'm turning around in every interview, every race I'm running in, you know, the post-race interview is, you know, what do you think about these athletes and, performance enhancing drugs.

And, what's happening in the news? And I'm just like, I've never taken a performance enhancing drug and I never will. And then I go home and I'm like the biggest hypocrite. And that became heavier and heavier and heavier. 

And how wild doing those interviews that used to [00:37:00] watch with your dad with the post game interviews and your Oh, and he said, this is, we, we gotta learn from this.

It's 

like such a powerful analogy there. so again, fast forward a few years and the weight of it all was so heavy. I had two, two kids by then and. I had just been to a point where like, I needed to stop this. Like you talk stresses, you talk pressure, and you know, I'm still winning races and I'm all this, but it's just different because I know 

that Does it consume you?

Like, would you be up at night, those middle of the night thoughts that get you when you know you wanna fix something? How prevalent was it in your mind? Yeah, I mean, it was, 

it was big. was big. 

It was heavy. It was something in there, it was heavy in there. and so in 2007, it just was enough. So I, I shared with my attorneys that we are just gonna put it out there, that I'm gonna, contact federal investigators and we're just gonna say it and we're [00:38:00] gonna deal with the consequences and they're gonna be severe.

And they were, 

okay, we're gonna get to that again. But wait, what does your team say when you told them you want you were doing this? 

So by that point, I had already for a number of years, distanced myself from that particular coach and the people whom I was training with. So you weeded the 

garden? 

Yeah.

Like I needed to be done. and so I didn't have that like, hanging over me. It was just like, I'd have to tell my mom and which was the hardest thing ever. What'd your mom say? I, I don't remember the exact moment, but I just know there were tears. there was sadness that a lot of it could have been prevented.

she had to be proud of you though, for owning up at the end. Certainly. And that's, yes. That's the hard 

stuff. And I knew that everything was gonna be okay. It was after I was sentenced and I came out of the courtroom, like all these dramatic steps there in New York, and there were thousands of cameras.

And, uh, most people thought I was just [00:39:00] gonna be like, escorted right to the car. And I thought, Nope, this is my moment to do what I can to make it right and to apologize to the world. And I did that. And the moment that I knew that it was all gonna be okay was, having my mom behind me with her hand on my shoulder, right.

And, and occasionally when those images will pop up, even now, like it brings tears to my eyes. But it was a moment that I knew that I was gonna be okay, that I was not defined by my sport. You know? And it's something that I tell a lot of athletes now. Like, like who are you? Yeah. I'm a, I'm a track and field star.

Okay, so what if there's no track and field? Like, who are you? and so in that moment I knew everything was gonna be okay because like, uh, ' cause my mama knew everything was gonna be okay. Mm-hmm. 

What a lesson. 

Yeah. 

And you'd already picked yourself up numerous times again. 

Yeah. 

Getting something else that you have that you're handling.

Okay. What do you get? What is your sentence? [00:40:00] What do you get sentenced to? Yeah, 

when I pled guilty, we were confident we, my, myself, my attorneys, that the court would see that no good could come out of me serving any prison time a lot more good would come out of me.

Teaching young athletes like, mentoring, coaching, and even the court recommended because they always give a recommendation to the judge after they investigate the whole, charge. So the court recommended to the judge, a couple years of probation.

Ultimately the judge we know in any case, can do whatever they want. But we were very confident, yes, going into that day that I would not be sentenced to any prison time. And so three plus hours later, and even the judge admitted that this I was gonna be used like he was setting a precedent, right?

That I was, that I was gonna be used as a lesson to other athletes. That you cannot do this in the, in the good name of [00:41:00] sport. He said six months. Well, I didn't hear that at all. So at the end of the sentencing, I had to look at my attorneys and I, and I What did, I had no history anybody in my family.

I never knew anybody. Like I, I used to watch the lockup 24 hour lockup. That was, that was my ex the extent of anything I knew about prison. And by that point I had two boys. How old were they? Two little boys maybe one in four, one in five. And you get 

six months sentence. 

Okay. Total, like frivolous rate of, but like I've only seen orange is the new black. Like what is prison Like? Like was it No, it's un 

I originally was sentenced to a federal prison. A federal prison. Federal. Like, and I'm not talking a joke like Martha Stewart type prison, like give me the country club prison.

Right. This was not it. so I was originally, he sentenced me to a prison in Texas, but then it was changed last minute because that particular prison didn't have enough like, [00:42:00] security for a high profile. Inmate. I guess that's what I was. So he then changed and sent me to a prison in Fort Worth, Texas, which after research is probably one of the hardest federal prison for women in the country.

 I'm just like, when can I start? When can I be done? This is just crazy. and find, deciding on a date to, to turn myself in and walking in is the craziest thing. 

so this particular prison 

had two sides to it. There's one called the camp side. The camp side is for, mild offenders people, people fudge on their taxes, and then you have across the street, behind the barbed wire fence, like I call it the real prisoners. You wanna be on the campsite.

So, so I was, I was pleased. I'm on the camp campsite. 

Okay. Okay. And you walk in and you walk past the TV room and like, my story is on the news. It's crazy, right? It is wild. but I'm also the type of person, like, I, I [00:43:00] adapt well in any, I, I, I hate to say it, but in any situation, right. Like I, I found out how it, how it works Yeah.

In there. And it's all based off of, again, money, but they don't deal in money. They deal in commissary. Right. So like every, every month there was enough for me to get food and, and if I need sweat, you know, little things.

But you quickly realize that not everybody there has that type of support. And the way that they earn a living or I'm able to buy chips and sanitary products and sweats or whatever, is they do services for other inmates. Okay. So I un I, I quickly start to understand this. Are you 

well-liked from the moment you arrive?

I dunno. Well-liked, but I get along with everybody. Okay. okay. So I quickly realized that I know how to cope with stress one way, and that is exercise, right? And so I made sure with my commissary, I bought a number of like sweat outfits when I work out, well, the issue with that is [00:44:00] that they have a limited amount of washers and dryers there for us to use.

And theft is a real thing. So what you do is you hire another inmate who doesn't get money on their commissary, like that's their job and they will wash clothes because you literally have to stand there at the washer and dryer or somebody will steal your stuff. somebody said that they cool, I'm gonna pay you in commissary.

So a couple of weeks I start to realize that my workout stuff starts like to disappear. And I'm thinking, what the hell? Like I'm, and you have to. Ish. How you confront people. Confront people. Like, yes, you don't do it in front of everybody, Uhuh, you don't, you're not loud about it. So I realized that most likely, either she was stealing it or whatever, I'm not gonna blame anybody, but I gotta figure out a way.

So I find a space where it's just she and I and I say, so and so, I think I'm gonna start to do my own laundry. Well, she takes that very personal, right? And, and I now, I, I understand why like, you're taking away money from her, [00:45:00] right? Yeah. Like she can't go and buy whatever, like I can and becomes upset.

And there's an altercation, like a fight. A fight. 

But do you like rumble? Yes. Oh my God, yes. 

Who am I? Right? Like, no, but I'm trying and we're in a, in a room and I'm trying to get out and so I run out to the guard. Anyways, the whole point of that is that anytime there's an altercation, you are taken to the shoe.

The shoe is solitary confinement. On the other side. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Okay. So we're escorted over there and it's her word versus my word. And in that 49 days in solitary confinement, that's how long I stayed there. What? it was determined like, hey, it was her word. Her word. So I was in solitary for 49 days in, uh, Carswell, Texas.

How did you survive that?

Yeah, some days were the darkest ever, but I survived thinking back on my mom's hand, on my shoulder 

coming out of the court. 

Yeah. I [00:46:00] survived knowing, everything she sacrificed for my brother and I, I survived Knowing that. sport that I was in didn't define who I was, right?

Like I, I have this light about me that I've been told, or, even the connection that I've made with however many people that I've met around the world that had nothing to do with sport. Like, it's just something that's innate in me, that has this ability to connect so you could stay in this dark place, or you can make plans about tomorrow and next week and next year and what your life is gonna look like without sport. And when you're in solitary, you're supposed to get. One hour of recreation time.

So you're locked up 23 outta 24 hours. But because it was summertime in Texas, there were many days I was locked, there was no hour outside at all. I left there in the best shape of my life, I'll tell you. But I also left there knowing that if I could get through this, the world has not seen the end of me. [00:47:00] so it was a blessing. And I tell like, people are like, what? Wait, like solitary was a blessing. Yes. Because in no other space do I think that I would have been, again, no pun intended, slowed down enough.

To reflect on who I was, why I made certain choices, But more important, like what type of life do you wanna have for your kids and all that, where you're going next. I needed that. I literally needed that quiet time and, and I wouldn't have wished it on my enemy but I'm, I'm, glad.

Wow. do I have regrets for Right, but I don't spend, I am, I'm happy with where I am now and it's because of what I've been through. 

You keep in touch with anybody from prison? 

I do have a few friends. You do. Lemme tell you, women are such connected. I found some of the most like brilliant women in there.

strong women in there. and again, there are some that no, you don't want to meet. Yeah. But there were many who similar to me have blanked up once. [00:48:00] Twice. Right. And it doesn't define that, like they're not bad people. No, no. 

They just 

made a poor choice. And so when people are so judgmental and critical about, people in the system, like pause.

Mm-hmm. 

Tell me are you okay with the world knowing everything you did when you were 21, 22, 20? Are you good? Yeah. Yeah. With like an open book? Yeah. Right. Because if your answer is yes, then okay, but most people couldn't say that. Nope. Right. so, and I got, I got to know them, I got to know some of their families.

So yes, there are a few that I, I love hearing that we'll still keep in contact that are, have been out now and are very, like, very successful. 

First of all, when's the, when's the movie on your life coming out and who's playing you, who's gonna play you? Mary, that is so interesting that you 

well, you're telling your story. There's so much that I've known about you, but not known. And it's just your light and your spirit. You haven't even hit your stride yet. I don't. The world's fastest woman has not even hit her stride yet. Welcome to the fifties. You are about to fly.

 Yeah. This is good. 

You know, [00:49:00] I'm grateful for the bumps. 

Yeah. 

I am like, I am grateful for a supportive and loving mother who is hard and strong and believes that it's like her babies can do amazing things.

Um, well that's you now as a mom. Yeah. Right? That's 

fast forward. 

Yeah. And, and. I am so hopeful, right? I sit here in front of you with an enormous amount of hope that my space on this planet is like, there's endless possibilities because like really my priorities are so in check now they're like, no 20 to 30 year olds priorities really are in check.

No, I'm just telling you. Right? You might think they are, but when you get to a place where you realize like, really, we should be here on this planet to help others mm-hmm. Live better. Yeah. Longer, whatever that is. Once you like, have joy in that, it's just such a satisfying feeling, right? Yeah. Like success [00:50:00] looks differently to a lot of people, but once you get to a place when success looks like, how many people can you positively impact?

And I'm impacting them by my story. So how can I not be in essence grateful for my story? 

I've found an audience of people who are like, yeah, failure isn't forever.

Yeah. And she is a shining living example of it. 

Failure does not have to define you. Yeah. Or anybody stuck in that. Yeah. Uh, who's your dream guest on the podcast? 

I grew up watching Mike Tyson. I, I don't wanna say like, pick his brain, like I don't wanna do that, but I find that there are many similarities in, in him and I in that like there's a, a deeper Mike Tyson than what the world knows.

I don't know if I could have the ability to like, touch on that with him. I, I just think that there's a part of him that people don't understand and pe there's a part of it that people don't understand about me. And so like there is this thing that I, I'm very protect, like when I talk about him or Yeah.

Even in, in, you know, in, in [00:51:00] the fight a few months back. I feel like I it very 

personal. 

Yeah. 

and so what do people get wrong about you?

I don't think people get wrong. I just don't think I have 

opened up enough in my world for people just to really see how I attack life. Because I've, I've kept it all bottled in because for so many years I needed to, because that was the secret sauce, right? Like, why am I gonna tell my competitors that?

Yeah. Right. And so because of that, like I have, uh, struggled and I'm learning to like open up about how I approach, anxiety and stress and how I am able to, you know, put on the armor and. Deal with stuff. and 

that's gonna be your legacy. Yeah. This is your back nine.

This is your next chapter. 

And how cool is that? And it is, and that's why I kind of embrace social media a little bit in that. Like, I still don't understand how you just, like, it's show all your life to everybody. It's a lot. It's, and I'm sure there's a, they're 

like, there's an audience for like, my, my like my team of [00:52:00] people.

There's an audience for like, no thanks. 

Okay, here we go. Let's get random. Yeah. something people would be surprised to know about you. 

I have a fear of compound fractures. Of what? Compound fractures. Like your bone coming out.

Okay. I can't watch or I can't watch injuries in sport. I can't either. Like it makes me sick to my slow stomach down. I'm like, 

then stop. Stop. 

Right. So I. That's a good 

one. 

That's bad. I mean, and it's really bad. 

Yeah. 

first Celebrity Crush, 

first and current. Tracy Chapman. today. I, I mean, I even listened to her, on the show today. I was listening. She did a recent NPR interview and she's, you know, very quiet and she, she hasn't been on tour in decades.

Like, I'm just waiting, like, and she doesn't give a lot of interviews and she's just so brilliant. And she gave an NPR interview a couple months back about like the current political climate and she's just 

so 

beautiful, effortlessly 

[00:53:00] cool. And just so talented. Yes. That's a good one right there.

thank you so much for coming on the You're welcome. Buckle up. I cannot wait to see what you do next. I'm follow following you on social media. Okay. And I'm gonna follow everything you do. Yay. Good luck on the podcast.

Yeah. Thank you. Think of everything you've already accomplished and you haven't even hit your stride. I love thinking about that. Yeah. I, I think you're right. I know I'm right.

Alright. Thank you my love. You're welcome. You're welcome. Go heels. Wow. I know. I shouldn't say wow after every interview Harper, but she's unbelievable.

something I felt when I first saw her was how bright she is. That light, she's got bright eyes, she's got bright energy, her skin looks incredible, but she just exudes light. And it was so interesting. At the end of the interview, she spoke about that light.

she knows she has that light in her. And literally one of the first notes I took was just, she's just a bright, incredible light. 

It's easy to say that about somebody that maybe has just, you know, gone through life with no ups and downs. Mm-hmm. I am [00:54:00] so impressed and so moved by people that have had to come back from something that have overcome something massive.

Those are the real champions that I gravitate and wanna learn from, and she is the epitome of that. Okay. First of all, how about her childhood? 

Well, What was so sweet is what she first said is when she was chosen for her brother's team. Yeah. Right. It was that moment that she, 

She was like, oh, I can do this. The confidence I can do this. The confidence really well, confidence of that. 

That was always in her. What about her writing on a chalkboard at nine years old?

Manifesting. Manifesting, I'm gonna be an Olympic champion. 

And knowing that when she saw Olympians for the first time in the parade, that she said, I wanna feel what they feel when they cross that finish line. She knew from an age that most nine year olds really wouldn't know that that's what they're meant to do.

But she knew it was in her. She knew it was in her. 

I love when she was talking about being in the blocks. And what she does with the breathing out with all negative energy. Mm-hmm. Any negative thought to make space. To make space, to make space for the [00:55:00] finish line to make, and then you breathe in only good air.

Every single person listening or watching this right now can take that advice in their life. She even said she does it for a teenage daughter. 

Totally. Going in, going, yes. Going in her room. She's like, I'm not sure who, we were talking about that earlier before even the interview. She's like, I, I'm not sure what I'm walking into.

We all know this with teenage girls, but I really actually have thought about it. I love that you guys spent time talking about the blocks, because I feel like when I look at athletes and it is sort of funny, track and field really comes around every four years. It, it's, yeah, it's on all the time for the athletes that are in it, but for those of us who maybe don't, aren't in track and field or get to see it all the time, it's a once every four years you see the best of the best.

And I do feel like whenever you're looking at them in those blocks, I'm like, how do they not go too early? I mean, you know, how do you not go too early? I actually 

really, I feel like I just would jump. Jump. You would jump or you would go, it's that patient is that mindset. I think my favorite part reflecting on the whole interview as I'm sitting right now with you, she's not bitter Harper.

She was made an example of mm-hmm. She turned [00:56:00] herself in when the whole doping scandal and all of that. But then she was, made an example and she had to go to prison and sitting here in this chair talking in solitary confinement. Solitary confinement for, was it 49 days? 49 days. But there's no bitterness.

And that's another quality I look for in people. No victim mentality, no bitterness. the ability to really move forward with your life. What are you learning from this and what are you doing to go forward? 

Well, and as she said, she doesn't wish that time to stop for anybody, especially in a situation that she was in.

which again, like just going back to the fact I, what is staggering to me is she was the most highly tested athlete in the world. Never tested positive. Yeah. So. Within her and becoming a mom. She had that moment to say, I wanna live a life that I am proud of, from start to finish, from inside, from the outside.

I've got these babies and I'm trying to teach them how it is to be in the world and I gotta show up. And she had to leave her very, very young children for six [00:57:00] months 

 I love that she's owning everything and not bitter, as you said, and not bitter and not looking back and now so energized for her next chapter, which is the whole reason we started the coup. 

Correct. One moment. Can we go back to the moment on the basketball court where she saw her dad? 

Wow. I didn't see that coming.

No, she was telling 

that. 

No. And I never asked her. I just sometimes, I mean that 

just, that just like hurts my heart. Yes. Just thinking about that for her, wanting to repair that relationship. Find the relationship, repair it in some way. Not necessarily that she needed to repair, but for the two of them.

And then to not see him again. That's, 

I mean, and, and the no closure and to kind of want that relationship. Never have it see him and then knowing after he passed away that he's kept all these scrapbooks and mementos. 

The way she's had to live with that and move forward. She had a lot of grief early on in her life that she had to deal with losing her stepdad. Yeah. Can 

you imagine a better coach to have in the world on life?

No, no. In athletics in perspective. Yeah. And I mean, she has [00:58:00] found a whole new track that is truly benefiting so many people. And as she said, it's hard to sometimes tell your own story. She told it so beautifully and she tells it in such a raw, clear way. But now she gets to help people tell their story and help people.

Mm-hmm. And 

how great that we were laughing the whole time, but the fastest woman in the world hasn't even hit her stride. And I just think how cool. She's about to turn 50 in October. Yep. And she's just gonna fly. You can feel it. Oh yeah. And her babies are getting older. She's been through, she's in so much.

She is in it. Oh shoot. We off camera. We got it. Menopause. She's, she's already worried about my creatine gummy, so I'm trying to get her on this stuff. Okay. Wait, hold, 

sorry. Prudes versus news. Can we please talk? 

There was a race at the pin. Relay night started at the beginning. Late night. You go there and there's this, it was you would go drink tequila.

All these teams would meet up. 

Okay, so this is like a tr is this sort of like a, um, this is, what's that like acapella thing? That that movie where something Oh yeah. Pitch perfect. Yeah. Is this like pitch perfect for track and go meet in some like 

empty pool, but only certain people? You go [00:59:00] midnight at the track and there's tequila and it's the nudes versus the prudes.

And you wanna relay races with all the different schools. Let's just say I wanted to prude Uhhuh. You run fast. You run fast. And is it like tequila? Like every a hundred meters, every, every lap you do a shot? Yes. Wow. Runners are I hold. 

Yeah. Woo, woo woo. Prude versus the news. 

And was there any other, 

by the way, sports, there was no 

other sports there.

How great that there was no cameras, there was no cell phones, as Mary was saying, back when everything was just fun and great. 

Yeah. And prudes versus nudes, literally in my mind, could have been like you and three other people, but it really wasn't. 

 It was great. Wait, that is amazing. Um, but she was so wonderful, just so open and great. You and I were riveted to everything she was saying. 

Yeah, it's un it's an unbelievable story. We've known for years to hear her tell it in just such a clear, raw, honest, and bright way. Uh, honestly, it was striking.

so thank you Marion Jones for sharing your story with us. And again, the whole coop is watching what you do next. Go get 'em. Y'all. Hope you like that [01:00:00] episode. We'll see you next time.