Marion Jones, the five-time Olympic-medal-winning track-and-field star, was sentenced this morning to six months in prison, followed by two years of probation for perjury. Back in October, Jones pleaded guilty to lying to a federal investigator in 2003 about using performance-enhancing drugs to help her win three gold and two bronze medals in the Sydney Olympics, and to lying about knowledge of her ex-boyfriend's scheme check-forging scheme. She returned her Olympic medals and made a tearful plea to the press: "I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let [my family] down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down." Her lawyers had tried to keep her out of prison, arguing that she had been punished enough, but instead, White Plains judge Kenneth Karas gave her the maximum sentence recommended by prosecutors. We bet she'll take the sentence better than Paris did.

Jones’s Soaring Career Now a Cautionary Tale [NYT]