Marion Jones representing US on diplomatic visits
Marion Jones, left, a former world champion track and field athlete and a former professional basketball player, participates in a basketball clinic at a high school in Belgrade, Serbia. Jones visited the Serbian capital as part of a U.S. State Department program, presenting lectures and basketball clinics to young adults. (Oct. 18, 2011) Credit: AP
Former Olympian Marion Jones has been chosen by the State Department to represent the United States on a series of diplomatic visits to Serbia and Croatia this week.
Jones won five medals at the 2000 Olympics but had them taken away and served prison time for lying to federal investigators about taking performance-enhancing drugs. She later played for a season and a half in the WNBA.
Ryan Rowlands, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, says Jones was chosen to visit the region hit by war and an earthquake in recent years because she's an example that "you can have things go wrong and you can move beyond them."
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