Marion Jones on diplomatic visits

Former track star Marion Jones is making a series of diplomatic visits to Serbia and Croatia on behalf of the U.S. State Department.

Once considered the fastest woman in the world, Jones give back her five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics after lying to federal investigators about taking performance enhancing drugs.

From Espn.go.com:

Since getting out of jail, she started a career in the WNBA -- playing a season and a half for the Tulsa Shock -- and has started a campaign to encourage others to think before making critical decisions.

This week, Jones is visiting with school children and other citizens in Serbia and Croatia, the former Yugoslav republics hit by war and earthquake in recent years.

"It paints a very positive picture of who we are as a country and the fact that she's here on the invitation of the United States government shows that our country believes in people always having opportunities to come back from adversity," said Ryan Rowlands, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade who helped arrange Jones' visit. "So that's been a great part of this message."

"I think that this country is in the process of rebuilding," she said. "My story is one that I am also rebuilding from making some bad choices in the past, so I think that was one of the main reasons that I was chosen because I have decided to not give up in my quest to help people."