Convicted Track Star Marion Jones Wants To Join The WNBA

Submitted by ilive4sportz

TC Sports Articles

Convicted and disgraced track star Marion Jones is looking to make a comeback,  but not in Track and Field. This time she's aiming for the WNBA.

Is this a long shot for Jones, who was convicted for and sent to jail for six-months? Maybe, but thats not stopping her. Released from prison last year after serving a six month sentence for lying about her doping use, the five-time Olympic medalist is looking to make a comeback to basketball.

Jones is now sharpening her old basketball skills and hopes to play this winter in Europe before crossing over to the WNBA in 2010. Many do not know that  Jones played point guard for the women's basketball team at North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels to a 33-2 record and a national championship in 1994 of her freshman year.

Jones turned her attention to track and field though, and made a name for herself moving up the ranks straight to the olympics, hoping to break the elusive record of track and field great Florence Griffith Joiner.  She was a star athlete in the sport for springs and long jumps. Even though she fell short of her stated goal of five gold medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Jones still won three (and two bronzes) and became the American female champ of the Games.

Her revelation of doping prior to the Sydney Olympics, cause officials to strip her of her medals Jones went to prison for lying to federal agents investigating the scandals.

She got redemption in May this year, when she got a phone call recommending she play for the WNBA. In October, she began training rigorously.

"I thought it would be an interesting journey if I decided to do this. It would give me an opportunity to share my message to young people on a bigger platform; it would give me an opportunity to get a second chance", she told the New York Times.

Jones is 34 now, and has had three pregnancies since 2002, so it won't be easy. She'll need to train longer and harder than her younger competitors.

But, if Jones stays dedicated, there shoudn't be an issue going to the WNBA. The floundering league definitely needs the marketing and publicity that Jones' name would bring.