Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is a former world champion track and field athlete, and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA. She won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but forfeited all medals and prizes dating back to September 2000 after her October 2007 admission that she took performance-enhancing drugs as far back as the 2000 Summer Olympics, and that she had lied about it to a grand jury investigating performance-enhancer creations by Victor Conte and the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (a.k.a. BALCO).

At the time of her admission and subsequent guilty plea, Marion Jones was one of the most famous people to be linked to the BALCO scandal. Forty-one days later, Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and four counts of perjury linked to his own testimony before the BALCO grand jury in December 2003.

Jones was born to Marion (who is Belizean) and George Jones (who is African American) in Los Angeles, California. She holds dual citizenship with the United States and Belize (her mother's home country). Her parents split when she was very young, and Jones' mother remarried a retired postal worker, Ira Toler, three years later; Toler became a stay-at-home dad to Jones and her older half-brother, Albert Kelly, until his sudden death in 1987. Jones turned to sports (running, pickup basketball games, and anything else her brother Albert was doing athletically) as an outlet for her grief, and by the age of 15 she was routinely dominating California high school athletics both on the track and the basketball courts.

Lance Edward Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support. He last rode for UCI ProTeam Team RadioShack, a team he helped found.

In October 1996 he was diagnosed as having testicular cancer with a tumor that had metastasized to his brain and lungs. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He went on to win the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005, and is the only person to win seven times having broken the previous record of five wins shared by Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, and Jacques Anquetil.

In 1999, he was named the ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. In 2000 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports. In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the years 2002–2005. He received ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong announced his retirement from racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France but returned to competitive cycling in January 2009 and finished third in the 2009 Tour de France. He confirmed he had retired from competitive cycling for good on February 16, 2011.

Merlene Joyce Ottey (born May 10, 1960), is a Jamaican-born Slovenian track athlete. Ottey began her career representing Jamaica, but since 2002, has represented Slovenia, where she now resides. She is ranked fourth on the all-time list over 60 metres (indoor), sixth on the all-time list over 100 metres and third on the all-time list over 200 metres.

Ottey has had the longest career as a top level international sprinter, which apparently has not yet concluded as she anchored the Slovenian 4x100 relay at the 2010 European Athletics Championships at the age of 50. She holds the record for the most Olympic appearances (seven) of any track and field athlete, and for winning the largest number of World Championships medals (fourteen). Her career achievements and longevity have led to her being called the "Queen of the Track". Her proclivity for earning bronze medals in major championships also earned her the title of "Bronze Queen" in track circles.

Merlene Ottey was born to Hubert and Joan Ottey in Cold Spring, Hanover, Jamaica. She was introduced to the sport by her mother, who bought her a manual on track and field. In her early school years in the 1970s, Ottey attended Gurneys Mount and Pondside Schools before graduating from Ruseas and Vere Technical high schools. There she frequently competed barefoot in local races.

Chandra Sturrup (born September 12, 1971) is a Bahamian track and field sprint athlete.

She is a 100 m specialist and the Bahamian national record holder for the women's 100 meter dash with a personal best of 10.84 seconds set in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 5, 2005. She has had a very long career and has taken part in almost every major event since 1991 after the birth of her one and only son, Shawn Murray Jr. She is a well-respected athlete and very competitive.

Sturrup competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing at the 100 metres sprint. In her first round heat she placed first in front of Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Lina Grincikaite in a time of 11.30 to advance to the second round. There she improved her time to 11.16 seconds and placed third behind Sherone Simpson and Muna Lee. In her semi final Sturrup finished in fifth position with 11.22 seconds, causing elimination. However her fellow Bahamian Debbie Ferguson did qualify for the final with the same time, but she finished fourth in her semi final.

Florence Delorez Griffith-Joyner (December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She is considered the "fastest woman of all time" based on the fact that she still holds the world record for both the 100 metres and 200 metres, both set in 1988 and never seriously challenged. She died of epilepsy in 1998 at the age of 38.

Griffith was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in the Jordan Downs public housing complex. During the late 1980s she became a popular figure in international track and field because of her record-setting performances and flashy personal style. She was the wife of triple jumper Al Joyner and the sister-in-law of heptathlete and long jumper Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Griffith finished fourth in the 200 m at the inaugural World Championship in 1983. The following year she gained much more attention, though mostly because of her extremely long and colorful fingernails rather than her silver medal in the Los Angeles Olympics 200 m. In 1985, she won the final of the Grand Prix with 11.00 seconds. After the 1984 Olympics she spent less time running and married the 1984 Olympic triple jump champion Al Joyner in 1987.