Former Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Marion Jones has been cut by the WNBA's Tulsa Shock, casting doubt over her basketball future. The Shock announced Thursday they had waived Jones to make room for Abi Olajuwon, the daughter of former NBA All-Star Hakeem Olajuwon. In her second season, Jones was averaging less than a point per game in 14 appearances for Tulsa, which is a league-worst 1-14 win-loss record heading into the All-Star break. “I want to thank the Tulsa Shock, Coach (Nolan) Richardson, the WNBA and my tremendous teammates for providing me the opportunity to fulfill a dream, and a platform to demonstrate to people, especially our youth, that if you have faith, life is full of second chances,” Jones said in a statement released by the team “I love the game and welcome another opportunity to contribute to women's professional basketball.” Once among the world's best-known female athletes and the fastest woman in the world, Jones won three gold medals and two bronzes at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but ended up giving the medals back and serving about six months in prison after admitting she had lied to federal investigators about taking steroids. Jones was the point guard for North Carolina's national college championship team in 1994 but was away from basketball between the end of her college career and the start of her foray into the WNBA last year. Beyond seeing whether she could make it as a pro basketball, she said she was hoping others could learn from the mistakes she made lying to investigators probing performance-enhancing drug use and a check fraud scam. She created a “Take a Break” campaign, encouraging people to pause for a moment before making important decisions – something she wished she had done during the investigation. She played in all 34 games and averaged 3.4 points and 9.4 minutes. She had only four baskets in 14 games with fading playing time.
