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Jones sentenced to six months in prison
WHITE PLAINS, New York (AP) - Marion Jones was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for lying about using steroids and a check-fraud scam, despite her plea that she not be separated from her two young children "even for a short period of time."
"I ask you to be as merciful as a human being can be," she said.
Last October, Jones admitted she lied to a federal investigators in November 2003 when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She said she took a designer steroid "several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after."
The sentence completes a stunning fall for the woman who was once the most celebrated female athlete in the world. She won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
WHITE PLAINS, New York (AP) - Marion Jones was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for lying about using steroids and a check-fraud scam, despite her plea that she not be separated from her two young children "even for a short period of time."
"I ask you to be as merciful as a human being can be," she said.
Last October, Jones admitted she lied to a federal investigators in November 2003 when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She said she took a designer steroid "several times before the Sydney Olympics and continued using it after."
The sentence completes a stunning fall for the woman who was once the most celebrated female athlete in the world. She won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
More details here
An incredible demise, to be sure, but it hardly seems surprising now. I remember her face being plastered all over the Wheaties cereal boxes and a series of ads inside of magazines and even on TV; now that the courts have spoken, losing out on these sponsors and even Olympic medals are the least of her concerns.
And what is it with all these high-profile U.S. athletes being sent to prison nowadays? This wasn't even the most stunning fall from grace for an athlete in the last three months (see Vick, Michael). Bonds and Clemens must beware...
