Marion Jones is Going to Jail

Today, a judge sentenced Olympian Marion Jones to six month in jail for lying to investigators about her steroid use and a check-fraud scheme.

A check-fraud scheme? That’s so … I don’t know … juvenile. I guess I expect a little more from our country’s Olympic athletes. I’m not sure why, after Tonya Harding and all, but still. It’s disappointing.

Jones begged the judge to show leniency and not to separate her from her sons. “I absolutely realize the gravity of the offenses I’ve committed. I want to apologize,” Jones told the court as she began to cry, according to ABC News. “I plead with you,” she said, to not separate “me from my boys even for a short while.”

Since admitting her guilt, the three-time Olympic gold medalist has returned all five medals won in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Jones, who used steroids distributed by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative – the same lab that supplied steroids to New York Yankees star Jason Giambi and San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds – is the first professional sports figure to get prison time for the offense.

Before you leave a comment, please make sure you've read our Guide to Commenting. It could save you a great deal of embarrassment.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 5:54 pm and is filed under Marion Jones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.