Fight Against Doping: Marion Jones Going to Prison

Marion Jones: "I respect the judge's order, and I truly hope that people will learn from my mistakes." (Getty Images)

(ATR) Marion Jones will have to serve a six-month sentence for lying about her use of performance enhancing drugs and for her role in a check fraud scheme.

Jones, who won five medals at the Sydney Olympics, was sentenced in U.S. Court in White Plains, New York where she pleaded guilty to the charges in October.

Jones had asked the judge for probation, arguing that the loss of her reputation, the stripping of her Sydney medals and financial decline were already sufficient punishment. Prosecutors had indicated that they would agree to probation.

Jones, 32, is the mother of two young children, one less than a year old. In pleading for leniency in court Friday, Jones asked the court not to separate her from the children.

"I ask you to be as merciful as a human being can be," Jones told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas.

Karas told Jones that he wanted to send a message to other athletes.

"This was a worldwide lie," he said.

"Athletes in society have an elevated status, they entertain, they inspire, and perhaps, most important, they serve as role models," said Karas.

Karas included 800 hours of community service and two years of supervised probation as part of the sentence.

Jones is due to report to prison on March 11.

"As everyone can imagine, I'm very disappointed today," Jones said outside the courthouse following the sentencing.

"But as I stood in front of all of you for years in victory, I stand in front of you today. I stand for what is right. I respect the judge's order, and I truly hope that people will learn from my mistakes," she said.

Jones became one of the most famous athletes in the world following her performance in Sydney, but was also dogged with suspicions of drug use. A former husband, shot putter C.J. Hunter, retired from sport when he was identified as a drug cheat, while sprinter Tim Montgomery, father of Jones older child, has also been convicted of doping infractions. Marion Jones entering the court this morning. (Getty Images)

Montgomery was also convicted in the check fraud scheme in which Jones was a participant. He is awaiting sentencing on those charges.

Jones has apologized and returned her medals to the IOC, which in December officially struck Jones from the record books for Sydney.

Jones denied using drugs during her 2003 testimony to a federal grand jury investigating the BALCO designer steroid scandal that has also ensnared professional baseball player Barry Bonds.

A statement from U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Sherr says young people should heed the experience of Jones.

"Today’s sentencing is illustrative of just how far-reaching and serious the consequences of cheating can be. The fact that an athlete with so much talent and promise, who so many people looked up to, made the decision to cheat is a terrible disappointment. This unfortunate situation does, however, offer a lesson to young people about the importance of making good choices and honoring the value of clean competition."

USA Track and Field chief executive Craig Masback says that the Jones case shows cheating in sport will not go unpunished.

"Today's sentencing concludes a sad series of events. The revelation that one of the sport's biggest stars took performance-enhancing drugs and repeatedly lied about it, in addition to being a party to fraud, has no silver lining.

“But, it is a vivid morality play that graphically illustrates the wages of cheating in any facet of life, on or off the track. We hope that all Americans will take to heart those lessons. The sport of track and field in the United States has moved on since Marion Jones competed, reaching even higher levels of success, as a team, than when she was at her peak. No one wanted to see this happen, and we hope that Marion and her family can move on as well,” said Masback.

Reuters track and field specialist Gene Cherry reports that photographs of Jones have now been removed from the Univrsity of North Carolina Track and Field Hall of Honor. "We did not think it was right to have those photos up," UNC athletic department spokesman Steve Kirschner is quoted by Reuters. Jones was also a member of the women's basketball team at UNC that won a national championship in 1994, but her uniform from that triumph is still on display.

Written by Ed Hula

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