Marion Jones

By the spring of 1997, Jones decided to devote herself solely to track and field. She began training with coach Trevor Graham, a Jamaican who was a silver medalist in the 1988 Summer Olympics. Jones won the 100-meter dash and defeated Joyner-Kersee in the long jump at the 1997 U.S.A. Outdoor Track & Field Championships. At the 1997 World Championships, she won gold in the 100 meters and as part of the 4 × 100-meter relay team.

In the 1998 U.S.A. Championships, Jones won the gold in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the long jump. It was the first time in fifty years that a woman had achieved these three wins in a single competition. Jones was undefeated in every competition she entereda total of thirty-six-until the last one, the World Cup, where Heike Drechsler of Germany beat her in the long jump. She married Hunter in October. By the end of the year, Jones was the unanimous choice as Track & Field News's Athlete of the Year. She was only the third athlete to be chosen unanimously, after Carl Lewis and the Polish athlete Irena Szewinska.