Former Olympic darling Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in
prison today after lying to federal agents about taking steroids as a
sprinter.
In October, the 32-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction
of justice, Bloomberg reports. She is the first athlete convicted in the
U.S. government’s takedown of sports steroid abuse.
During her New York trial, Jones argued that she should be given
probation because she’s the mother of two kids, but U.S. District Judge
Kenneth Karas wasn’t trying to hear it. Judge Karas considered giving Jones
a tougher sentence after she reportedly impeded a San Francisco steroid probe and lied about a check-cashing scheme involving one of her baby’s fathers.
Jones tearfully admitted four years ago that she was provided steroids
before the 2000 Olympics, provided by her former coach Trevor Graham. In
2003, she lied to agents, saying that Graham told her it was flaxseed oil.
January 11, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Marion Jones Gets Six Months for Steroids
Olympic sprinter first convicted athlete in Feds beatdown.
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Comments
1.
carlton1964 says:
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What a joke of a justice system! Like she's a threat if she's not in prison??? Lying to cover up a personal behavior choice is what she did, nothing else. She came clean....was humiliated, banned from her sport, lost her medals, and is now a felon. Why prison?? We had a public"role model" a few years ago that lied under oath to protect his behavior. Guess what? NO PRISON...in fact he got to keep his job as highest elected official in the country. And a lot of folks in this country are thinking of giving his wife the same job later this year. She claimed the actions against him were a "witch hunt" by a right wing agenda. These people are still in denial! Marion Jones is sincere and sorry...and a danger to NO ONE!!!!!!!
January 18, 2008 at 12:30 am
2.
bobbybowden says:
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I don't understand this. Whose more at fault, the experienced trainer or the child athlete? This places a dark cloud over out athletics, especially our black athletes. It has always been the stereotype that blacks were superior athletically to other ethnicities. Eventually, someone will begin to question our dominance. I will not be surprised if they begin to do an investigation into all of the top black athletes. Basketball is probably the only sport in which steroids can not really benefit your overall performance. What’s more sad is that out of all of the athletes who have been thought or proven to have knowingly, or unknowingly, used steroids, the only one to be quickly convicted and sentenced to jail time was an African American female mother of two. So so sad.
Bobby R. Bowden, MBA
CEO, Publisher
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January 13, 2008 at 8:35 am
3.
Busisiwe says:
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A sad state of affairs. Maybe we just expect far too much from athletes. We always want people to win no matter what. May this be a lesson to parents, schools and athletes themselves that doing your best is really enough. I just wish her all the best.
January 13, 2008 at 7:16 am