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MARION Jones has always outrun trouble--on the track and in her personal life. When she runs, her opponents say all they see is the back of her head. When she encounters adversity, they don't even get that close. She just runs faster.

Jones won three gold and two bronze medals at the Games in Sydney, Australia, making her the most-decorated female track-and-field athlete in a single Olympics. And she did it the hard way. Grace under pressure? After the International Olympic Committee released the news that her husband, world champion shot-putter C.J. Hunter, had tested positive for steroids more than five months earlier, Jones showed the world what she was made of.

"It's funny because I'm at my first Olympic Games," she says. "I'm the favorite and I'm going for five gold medals, and all of a sudden this bombshell hits my family--out of nowhere." A lot of swear words went through her head, she says, before she sat down and determined her strategy. "It was obvious that somebody was just trying to hurt [someone]--I don't know if it was me or if they were trying to hurt my husband, and they knew that would hurt me. And I wasn't going to let that happen. I had worked too hard.

"I was only 24 then, but 18 of those 24 years had been dedicated to wanting to get to that moment," she continues. "I wasn't going to let some person in charge of some organization ruin that for my family and me. I was going to get it done as best as possible, enjoy the moment and then we would deal with all of the accusations after the Games."

That's how she made Olympic history and made her critics eat their words. She was able to complete her task with a mental toughness that startled her critics. But then they don't understand her background. It could be argued that her hardest race was not in Sydney; it was the race she ran growing up in Los Angeles, Calif., overcoming at 12 the death of her beloved stepfather.

It was the race she ran as the tomboy daughter who worked hard at beating the boys in everything, and who was dubbed "Hard Nails" by neighborhood kids for her drive. It was the race she ran relay with her hero, Marion (Big Marion) Toler, her mother, a legal secretary born in Belize, who raised her and her brother alone. "As a child I was very involved with sports and I knew at age 9 that I wanted to be an Olympic champion," she says.

Marion's mother is still her guiding light. "My father wasn't really involved and my mom is the light in my life," she says. "She's always been there for me."

Family continues to be key and center to Jones' life, and is keeping her sane in the new race she is running in the fast lane of world superstardom.

Jones said during her ordeal in Sydney, her family formed a loving and protective circle around her and C.J. "It made us realize that we have to rely on our families even that much more," she says. "We realized that the only persons we can truly trust in this world is each other and our families. That realization made a big difference between C.J. and me."

The gold medalist says she realized in a graphic way that not everyone is her friend. "You lose sight of that sometimes, when I'm running fast and C.J.'s throwing far and everybody is shaking your hand and patting you on the back. You forget that sometimes people are out there to get you--they don't even have a reason."

Although C.J.'s case is still in court (Johnnie Cochran is their attorney), Jones says she is confident the issue will be resolved soon and her husband's name will be cleared. And then they can get on with their lives.

The couple has been married since October 1998. Some thought them an unlikely match at first. But the man who she declares "keeps her sane" caught her eye when she was a student and he was a coach at the University of North Carolina.

"I saw C.J. in the weight room," she says. "I was lifting [weights] and he was lifting, and a mutual friend introduced us. At first I was like `good-looking dude,' and I went on about my business." But one thing led to another "and we started chit-chatting and talking and very early on I knew there was something special about this guy."

Apparently he felt the same way because he quit his job (the university did not allow coach-athlete dating) and soon the pair was engaged. Hunter, who was married previously, has two children who live near the couple in North Carolina.

The role of stepmother is one that Jones relishes. But it is also where the price of fame is most evident. Although she appreciates the attention and enjoys traveling to places such as London and Monaco, and meeting the likes of Nelson Mandela, she does not enjoy being interrupted when she has the children with her. "It's been a little strange over the past couple of months," she says. "Everywhere we go, people recognize me. When I have eight bags of groceries and my two stepkids are asking me a 100 questions, and I'm on the cell phone, and somebody brings me a piece of paper with no pen and taps me on the back, it's funny."

This is the way her new world works. The fastest woman in the world is stuck in the checkout lane behind a cart full of groceries. To the left, her image appears on the cover of a fashion magazine; to the right, it appears on the cover of a sports magazine. She pulls her hat down and tries to sneak up to the cashier. The woman behind her is whispering, "That looks like Marion Jones. Is it really her?" What does Marion do? She pulls her hat down and makes a break for the cashier.

"It's hard to have a bad hair day when you're famous," she says. "I'm a jock and I'm an athlete, and that's what I love to do. I love to compete and I love to perform, but everything else--sometimes I can do without it. I'm used to going out in my jeans and throwing a hat on if my hair is not right, but now I have to say, `OK, where am I going, do I need to do my hair?' That's very different."

When it comes to Jones' new glamorous and sexy image, she says she is "not feeling it." In fact, it makes her giggle. "I'm a jeans and sweats type of lady, but I think it's important to occasionally show a little bit of femininity, and I think I do anyway. It's a nice change of pace to see me in this $7,000 dress [for a photo shoot] that I'll probably never, ever wear."

Her glamorous public look has some comparing her to Florence Griffith-Joyner, who was known as much for her flamboyant outfits and long nails as for her world records. But even though Flo-Jo's records inspire her, she says she is truly inspired by Jackie Joyner-Kersee. "Growing up, she was the woman. In my opinion, Jackie is the greatest female athlete ever," she says. "People tell me that I'm almost up there, and I tell them, no way. I've set no world record. I did pretty well at the Sydney Olympics, but those were my first Games. How can you compete with somebody who has numerous world records, several gold medals and is just a genuinely good person, [a combination that] is very difficult to find these days? She would definitely have to rank tops on my list of people who have motivated and inspired me."

At only 25, the only clock ticking for Jones is her own stopwatch. She has any number of options for her future, and giving birth to a child is not one of them--at this time. "Our lives are so hectic and full, and we have a big family right now," she says. "We're very happy with it. Down the line, we'll reassess the situation and see if there are changes to be made."

Jones' life is already so hectic that she barely has time to relax these days. "When I'm home, I'm relaxed," she says in reference to the extensive travel she's required to do. "I'm an Internet junkie. I like cooking--I make a good stir-fry and the family likes it when I make stewed chicken and macaroni and cheese. C.J. cooks too." She also enjoys music, indicating that she's a big fan of Brian McKnight and Tracy Chapman. "I'm in love with Sade's new CD; it's awesome. I like mellow R&B-type music."

On the business side, Jones is a media-marketing darling. She has multimillion-dollar development deals, corporate sponsors galore, her own shoe, and her own Web site, Marion.Jones.com.

With all that's going on in Marion's life, her foundation remains her athletic ability. Jones' coach, Trevor Graham, says--even with all of her accomplishments--she has yet to reach her peak in track and field. "I don't know what she can't do," says her idol, Jackie Joyner-Kersee. "She's gifted and mentally tough, and she can own everything from the 400 [meters] on down, plus the long jump."