Marion Jones running out of money

Track and field

Seven years after winning a women's record five Olympic track and field medals and snagging

 multimillion-dollar endorsement deals, Marion Jones is almost broke. The sprinter is heavily in debt,

fighting off court judgments, and down to a bank balance of about $2,000, according to recent court

records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. Last year a bank foreclosed on her $2.5 million mansion

in an area of Chapel Hill, N.C., where Michael Jordan was a neighbor. She was also forced to sell

two other properties, including her mother's house, to raise money. Jones's financial woes were

revealed in a 168-page deposition in a breach-of-contract suit she filed in Dallas against veteran track

coach Dan Pfaff. Pfaff countersued and won a judgment against Jones for about $240,000 in unpaid

training fees and legal expenses. Legal bills have plagued Jones since 2003, when suspicions of drug

use emerged and she was linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative after a federal raid. Last

year, a Jones urine sample tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug EPO. Although she was

cleared when a backup sample tested negative, she missed at least five major international meets,

forfeiting an estimated $300,000 in appearance and performance fees.