Marion Jones hints at retirement
By Gene Cherry
Posted Monday, 18 December, 2006
Former triple Olympic champion Marion Jones says she is still undecided about her athletics future.
The 31-year-old American is not in training, even though most of the world's elite sprinters have already begun preparations for the 2007 season.
"I just need to make a lot of decisions," Jones told a news conference in Belize while visiting her mother's Central American homeland with three-year-old son Monty.
"My son is getting to an age where it is necessary for me to be present more and more. I'll make some decisions with my family in the next several months about what the future holds."
Jones, who won three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, said her family life is far more important than athletics.
"Please don't get it wrong that track and field is the No.1 one priority in my life, being a mother and being part of a family is the No.1 thing," she said.
Jones has often said she would retire after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the controversy surrounding a doping test at the US championships in June has led her to contemplate leaving the sport earlier. She remains under scrutiny by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in connection with the BALCO doping scandal.
"I've moved past it a long time ago," said Jones when asked about the scandal.
"I've never done anything wrong, I've never taken any illegal substances and that's really what it comes down to."
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