Hingis and Jones: Tales of fallen icons

In the period Jan. 5 to 11, 2008, two of the world’s top female athletes, tennis’ 27-year- old Martina Hingis from Switzerland and 32-year-old American-Belizian Marion Jones of athletics, found themselves in deep trouble over drug-related situations.

Hingis was meted a two-year suspension on Jan. 5, 2008 after having been tested positive for cocaine on June 28, 2007, the day she lost in straight sets to Laura Granville of the US in the third round at Wimbledon.

In November 2007, Hingis, the five-time Grand Slam champion, tearfully and angrily denied in a press conference in Zurich, Switzerland, her use of cocaine and announced her second retirement rather than fight what she called a “horrendous” accusation. In 2002, Hingis left the game because of several foot and leg injuries and missed major tournaments for three years.

ESPN quoted Hingis as saying, “They say that cocaine increases self-confidence and creates a type of euphoria. I don’t know. I only know that if I were to try to hit the ball while in any state of euphoria, it simply wouldn’t work. I would think that it would be impossible for anyone to maintain the coordination required to play top class tennis while under the influence of drugs.”

Jones was sentenced to six years in prison by US District Court Judge Kenneth Karas for perjury concerning her having made false statements to government agents investigating the California-based Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), maker of so-called designer steroids. On Oct. 5, 2007, Jones claimed she had never taken performance-enhancing drugs when in truth she had taken steroids even before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She retired from athletics that day.

Jones was also found guilty of making false statements about her knowledge of a chech-counterfeiting scheme that involved her ex-boyfriend Tim Montgomery, a world-class sprinter himself.

The life story of Jones, probably the fastest woman on earth and, arguably, the best female athlete in the world, could crowd out a number of our more popular telenovelas for precious TV ratings. Her athletic feats are embellished by, among others, romantic relationships that resulted in a marriage to her coach, C.J. Hunter, in 1998 and subsequent separation in 2001; a son on June 28, 2003, with Montgomery; and a second marriage this time to Barbadian sprinter and fellow 2000 Olympics medalist (bronze, 100 meters) Obadele Thompson. The couple has a son who was born in July 2007.

Jones childhood was marked by the absence of her father George who left the family when she was to years old. Jones’ Belizian mother, also named Marion, subsequently married Ira Toler when the young Marion was only five years old. The young Marion gets to love her stepfather but seven years later, Toler succumbs to a stroke.

After Toler’s death, Jones chooses to concentrate on track and field at 15 and shows sign of extraordinary talent by establishing a national record in 1991 of 22.87 seconds in the 200 meter dash. That early, Jones has her first brush with drugs. She fails to show up for a random drug test and is banned from the sport for four years. An Infoplease report says that Jones never received the letter informing her of the test. Jones’ mother hires Johnnie Cochran who successfully fights for her reinstatement.

The first woman to win five medals in one Olympics (three gold medals in the 100-and 200-meter dash, 1,600-meter relay; and two bronze medals in the long jump and the 400-meter relay), Jones excelled in both athletics and basketball.

In basketball, Jones led her high school team, once scoring 48 points in a game and earned a scholarship a the University of North Carolina, where she metamorphoses into a point guard of the Tar Heels. As a sophomore at Chapel Hill, Marion averages 17.1 points per game. Earlier in June 1994, Jones earns All-American honors in four events at the NNCAA track and field championships.

Without doubt, Jones’ would have exemplified another admirable rags-to-riches story and another example of hard work helping fulfill the great American dream, except that Jones appears to be headed back to where she started.

Reports indicate that Jones is broke. The Associated Press says Jones is heavily in debt and fighting off court judgments. Last year, a bank foreclosed on her $2.5 million mansion in an area of Chapel Hill where Michael Jordan was a neighbor. She was also forced to sell two other properties to raise money. In her prime, Jones was one of track’s first female sports millionaires.