Ex-Track Star Montgomery Discusses Fear Of Prison Life

November 27, 2009 7:09 p.m. EST

Tim Montgomery was a former 100-meter world record-holder, and dropped from elite status after  becoming a criminal. Montgomery now trades respect from once the fastest man in the world to someone surviving prison life.

Montgomery is serving a 46 month sentence for dealing heroin and cashing counterfeit checks.

He is serving an additional sentence for five years for the possession and distribution of heroin. He will be in jail until Jan 2016.

"You can never relax in prison. I cannot tell you how bad it is," Montgomery told The Times of the UK. "You have to join a gang for protection. You have to let it be known: 'If you come at me, I'm going to give you all I've got. I'm willing to lay it all on the line for my respect.' "

Montgomery is hoping for his second chance in the London 2012 Olympics. It rests on a legal appeal that challenges the amount of time he was sentenced to.

Now, his speed is his salvation in lockup.

"In prison, it is all about respect; the same as on the track. My gift, my speed, was my savior. It won me respect from the guys who work out - and they're normally the strong guys," said Montgomery.

Montgomery broke the world 100-meters record Sept. 14, 2002 and was coupled with the fastest woman, Marion Jones.

The couple both used performance-enhancing drugs and kept drugs in the refrigerator next to the produce.

"I would give anything to be the world's fastest man," Montgomery said. "I wouldn't let anything get in my way. But if I'm cold, Marion's colder. Marion didn't care about anything."

Now in an Alabama prison, Montgomery is using tennis shoes instead of spikes, where he's on a 10.3 pace back to the glory days-at least for the moment.

"Proper training and I could probably get down to 10 flat," he said.