In October 1998, Marion Jones and one-time shot putter world champion C.J. Hunter walked down the aisle after two years of dating. But not everyone was on board with this athletic pairing. “I can’t say this is how I wanted it to be for my daughter,” Jones’ mother, Marion Toler, told SI. “A divorced man with two children. Is C.J. right for her? I pray that he is.”
Still, they went ahead with the wedding. And in 2000, when Hunter came under fire for failing four steroid drug tests, Jones came to his defense. Hunter, who subsequently retired from the sport, was ultimately prohibited from any future participation by the USA Track & Field organization in March 2001. Later that same year, the couple announced that they’d be going their separate ways.
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“It is with regret that I announce my separation from C.J. Hunter, my husband of nearly three years,” a press release by Jones read, per CBC. “In the near future, I plan to seek a divorce due to irreconcilable differences, which have made nurturing our marriage extremely difficult.” Jones further highlighted that their marriage had involved both of them relying on each other both as athletes and outside their respective sports. The decision to part ways, she added, was favorable in the time ahead, since their union never bore any children. Jones concluded by saying of her soon-to-be ex-husband, “I wish him well.”
