US track star Marion Jones owned a trophy   case filled with medals. She had worldwide fame. She held the high honor of being the first female track and field athlete to win five medals at an Olympics -- the 2000 Sydney Games. But last Friday, the 31-year-old track star tearfully confessed that she had lied to fans, sports official and US federal agents about taking steroids. The five Olympic medals in her trophy case? Gone. Meaningless. The worldwide fame? Exchanged for infamy. The honor of being the first female track and field athlete to win five medals at an Olympics? Forgotten, wiped off the record books. "It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust." Jones confessed. She'd posed for pictures with fans. She'd attended parties and talked about her accomplishments. But for years she'd slept --- or tried to sleep -- knowing that much of what she had done was built on a lie. Now, finally, she'd decided to tell the truth. "If she had trusted her own natural gifts and allied them to self-sacrifice and hard work, I sincerely believe that she could have been an honest champion at the Sydney Games." IAAF President Lamine Diack said over the weekend. "Instead, Mario Jones will be remembered as one of the biggest frauds in sporting history." Sadly, she won't be the last. There are still others lurking  behind their trophies. They too appear to have everything. They're superstars, the envy of every young person who has played a sport. But for how long? And at what cost? Every time they look at their trophies and medals they remember that the awards really belong to someone else. The writer values   _   most in this passage.
Marion Jones' deciding to tell the truth the honesty and hard work in sports competition trophies, medals and champions the spirit of Olympic Games