Olympian Marion Jones takes on Special Forces training, a triathlon and a new chapter in her life

19 Min Read
Marion Jones
Photo courtesy of Marion Jones

Marion Jones is widely considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. She became the first woman to win five medals in a single Olympics when she won three gold and two bronze in the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. She was also the first black female athlete to grace the cover of American Vogue. She has spent the last decade as a speaker, entrepreneur, media personality, and an expert trainer and coach on the subject of winning, dedicated to helping others see they can accomplish more than they think and win no matter what the circumstances.

Marion making a dynamic return to competitive sports and athletics in the upcoming third season of Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, which premieres on January 8th while also gearing up for the Honolulu Triathlon next May. Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test enlists a troop of household names to endure some of the harshest, most grueling challenges from the playbook of the actual Special Forces selection process. Marion will be joined by Cam Newton, Stephen Baldwin, Denise Richards, Brody Jenner, and more celebrities who have agreed to put themselves through this intense military training.

In addition to the show and race, Marion is the first and official brand ambassador for Soul Cap. Soul Cap set out to help swimmers of all levels gain access to the benefits of swimming while also protecting their hair from the dangerous chemicals found in the water. The mother of three also began a new chapter of her life having revealed her LGBTQ+ identity to the world over the summer.

We had the chance to chat with Marion about this exciting new chapter of her life in our exclusive interview.

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Why did you decide to participate in Special Forces

Oh, there was a number of reasons. I’ve always had an inclination, or I always had a dream that in a different world, I potentially would have pursued something along the lines of Navy SEALs or Special Forces, like in another world. But of course, life happens and when the opportunity was presented to me last year…I hadn’t seen the previous two seasons and watched them and felt that it was the mental and physical challenge that I was needing. I haven’t had a physical challenge in a long time, in over a decade, and I liked the idea of having to potentially train and do hard things and get out of my comfort zone. I have three kids and I want to be a living example to them that you don’t give up. All of those little things intrigued me and I wanted to just try it. 

I’ve seen some of the things that they go through on the show. What was the biggest challenge for you? 

The biggest challenge for me was dealing with the elements, the water and cold. The temperatures were not too warm at all and I have a really hard time functioning in colder climates – and then you put water with that. In addition to being out of your comfort zone with being wet and cold, they force you to have to think and make decisions that in the real world, if you were really training to be part of Special Forces, it could be life or death for you and your team.

That was the hardest thing for me to overcome, the shivering and having to stay focused and not be overcome with whatever physical reaction happens when you’re naturally cold. So that was hard. You know, also having to be a part of, I call them my team, part of my family, these other 15 celebrities that they chose to be a part of this and having to get along and understand personalities and identifying everyone’s strengths and weaknesses for the greater good of all of us. That’s a challenge, right? Especially when I’ve been away from a team atmosphere for so long. It was an unforgettable experience. 

The reality show mantra is “I’m not here to make friends.” Did you get to bond with any of your castmates on the show?

Well, I think that’s the mantra, but there’s no way that you can participate in this type of thing, this mission, and not have some type of bond simply because when you really are training for Special Forces or Navy SEALs, you realize that these are your brothers and your sisters and you have to protect them. They have to protect you. There are certain things that you do – and if you don’t do them, it could cost them in the real world – their life or your own.

It was great getting a chance to meet some of [the cast] that I’ve seen on television and vice versa and realize that friendships are being formed and relationships and bonding. It was just a really interesting dynamic and one that there are still a number of relationships that are intact. And when we had kind of a reunion a few weeks back, it was nice to see everybody. 

Marion Jones
Photo courtesy of Marion Jones

Did you learn anything surprising about yourself when you participated on Special Forces?

I think everybody walks away from that type of experience with some type of self-growth. For me, it was allowing myself to be part of like an out-of-body experience – and let me explain. It’s whereby you are there and you are present and potentially you’re being yelled at but you’re looking at it from an outside lens, like, okay, is everything in order? Are you going to do anything or say anything that is going to affect your teammates? I think in life, if we step away from ourselves for a moment and look at the situation, the environment, the relationships and the decisions that you’re making, if you do that more often than not you probably lead a healthier, happier life and just like really putting that and being mindful of that as I left the show and got back to my normal life pausing, taking a step back, looking at the situation and making a much better decision, I think.

You’ve been through a lot of challenges with the show, and now you’re also training for the Honolulu Triathlon. How has that preparation been for you?

It is mind blowing. It’s so new. In the past several months I made the decision to do it, so even to hear you ask me about it, I’m like, who are you talking about? I don’t know how old you are, but I think that if you are an endurance type athlete, you can understand this. I am not, period. I was not an endurance type athlete. I competed very fast from here to there, right? That was my specialty. So now to be almost 50 years old and to have been away besides the show, of course, from a physical, long-term challenge is something that I needed because I’m that type of individual. And so, to embrace a sport that I’ve had so much respect for my entire life and had on my bucket list for decades, but never had the time to commit to training because I’m not the type that’s just going to like dive in and just do it. I put in work preparation, have a coach, there’s training logs and workouts and so much swimming and biking and running now that I can’t even think straight, but I’m so loving it.

I’m so excited. My expectations are to learn something about myself. I’ve known for my entire life that if I dedicate myself to something, good things will happen. So, no predictions in terms of times or place or any of that, but I know it’s going to be something that’s going to help me be better and hopefully be inspiring to those that are on the journey with me.

Marion Jones
Photo courtesy of Marion Jones

Now, along with that, you’re the ambassador for Soul Cap. Is that something that came out of your triathlon involvement?

It’s so crazy. I like to share with people on social media the good and the bad things in my life. I think that’s the best way to be authentic. I think a lot of social media influencers in particular only show all the beautiful, positive, wonderful things when that is not how life is.

And so, when I made the decision to attempt this and try one of my challenges, it was even the mundane things that people just assume always go okay, like putting the swim cap over my hair, right? There’s a lot of it and I couldn’t find one that really works with my hair type. I posted the challenges. It ripped one time, it popped me in the face another time and my followers started suggesting different companies and this Soul Cap kept coming up on my feed over and over and over again and then Soul Cap decided to reach out and there was a connection made and then now all of a sudden, fast forward to this week I’m an official ambassador for Soul Cap.

What I love about this brand and this company is that their true goal is to make swimming accessible to everybody, regardless of where you live, how old you are, what color you are. The fact is that everybody needs in this world to know how to swim. I’ve used them all and love them all, but mainly I love the partnership that we’ve formed. That’s bigger than just sport. 

You mentioned authenticity and living your authentic life. You have recently come out. How important was it for you to finally get out there and live your authentic life?

I mean, it’s everything. As you know there are so many pressures in this world to be just a woman, right? A successful woman entrepreneur, there’s always that glass ceiling. And then you put on top of that I’m a woman of color and for many, many years I was the woman that these big companies look to for the perfect look, the perfect life, right?

I fed into that for a number of decades – and I’m not here to say that it’s right or wrong. It’s the decisions I made to live. And as you get older, though, you realize that it’s a much better life to be real and to be true and along the way people are going to be hurt, and in my journey people were hurt. I’m just glad to be in the season that I am. I’m glad to have found somebody in my life that I love that I’m not hiding. My relationship is public and I can just work on being me, which I haven’t been able to do for much of my life.

And so really I’m like a kid in a candy store, no pun intended, but it’s just amazing how different and happy I am and how I exude joy. My friends and my family are like, wow, you’re out and you’re turning 50 next year and we’ve really never seen you with so much joy.

That means a lot. And I think when that part of your life is good, it feeds into all of the other parts of your life. People are like, man, so much success you’re having now, Marion. You’ve come back, you were gone for a decade, and you’re back, and why is that? I don’t attribute that all to coming out, but I’ll tell you, once you’re able to finally say enough with the disguise, enough with the lies, this is who I am. I’m going to lose followers. I’m going to gain followers, whatever that is. I don’t care. This is me right in my good days and bad days. This is me. And it’s wonderful feeling.

Marion Jones
Photo courtesy of Marion Jones

I can see the joy in your face and I have to ask…your skin is so beautiful. What is your beauty secret? 

You’re not going to want to know this. Well, first let’s start with genetics. I’m so blessed to have a mom who is just flawless. I’ve maybe seen my mom put on makeup for an event once or twice in her life. But in regard to me, I’m just so active. I sweat. I live in Austin, Texas where 75 percent of the year, it’s like unbearable heat. And I just make sure that I have a wonderful sunscreen on and that at the end of the day, I clean it well with a very neutral cleanser. And that’s it, the sunscreen has been huge for me.

I have done some things in the past and use this particular brand called Black Girl sunscreen and it works for my skin.  You know, for many, many years, I did not use the sunscreen and realize I could start to see some type of damage and quickly made a decision. It doesn’t matter like what your tone is, what your color is like that sun will eventually damage your skin and the more that you get ahold of that and you find a sunscreen that works for you with the right SPF, like that could be a game changer. So, for me, it’s a very basic routine that works for me. 

What is next for you after Special Forces

Well, you know, Special Forces has just really opened up a lot of opportunities, but right now my focus is to get through the holidays. There’s so much going on. I have three kids that are older now but I want to make sure that this time remains special, even though my schedule is busy. But this training is taking it over my life. I become a bit obsessive when I decide to do something, which is why I hadn’t done it. I listen to swimming podcasts now! I work and I coach my clients in mindset work and I’m a personal trainer.

I love that part of it, but now the rest of my day is about swimming podcasts and about the freestyle stroke and my kicks and all that. And then just continuing to expand this idea and share with people that failure is not forever in your life. Most people cannot relate to being an Olympic champion, an Olympic gold medalist or any of that, but everybody can relate to getting knocked down and wondering how they can pull themselves back up or how they can potentially get back to where they were. And hopefully, by hearing parts of my story and seeing my journey they will say, we’ve seen her at the top of the top and get knocked down and while she’s back and she’s nonstop and she’s this. And so, hopefully anybody that hears the story is inspired to get better. That’s what this season of my life looks like – and I’m just here for the ride. 

Watch Marion on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test on FOX, premiering January 8. Follow Marion om Instagram and on her website


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