ATHLETE MARION JONES BEGINS SERVING PRISON SENTENCE » Former Olympic gold-medal winner Marion Jones started her 6-month sentence behind bars in a federal prison in Texas on Friday, reports People. Jones arrived a little before noon at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

As previously reported, the athlete will have to perform 800 hours of community service during her 6-month prison sentence. According to People, Jones, who used steroids distributed by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative – the same lab that supplied steroids to athletes who included New York Yankees star Jason Giambi – is the first professional sports figure to receive prison time. But she probably won’t be the last. CONTINUE READING

SCREENCAPS: SPLASH NEWS

Oprah gave Marion Jones her first interview since being sentenced to six months in prison for lying about her steroid use and check fraud. The disgraced athelete said that she accepts responsibility and has no regrets.

“I think that I absolutely should have to accept responsibility for breaking the law,” she says on the Oprah Winfrey Show. “I have no regrets for doing what I did on October the 5th and pleading guilty and admitting to the world that I lied, that I’ve made mistakes. [It pales] in comparison to seeing my husband cry,” she tells Winfrey, speaking on being stripped of her Olympic medals. “They [pale] in comparison to seeing my mother have to stand there in the courtroom and bawl. You know, those things to me are what mean the most.”

Due to the fact that she has a 4-year-old son at home, Jones told Oprah that she is disappointed to be serving a 6-month jail sentence instead of just being on probation. She went on to say that she and her husband haven’t explained the situation in its entirety to their young son, who was also upset when his mother wasn’t able to drop him off at school one morning.

Jones will begin her 6-month sentence on March 11th.

PHOTO: SPLASH NEWS

In addition to returning all 5 of the medals she won in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Marion Jones was sentenced to 6 months in prison for lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and check-fraud scheme, according to a report published by People last week.

“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.”

Her lawyers asked for leniency, according to the Associated Press, but U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, N.Y., sentenced the 31-year-old to the prison term as well as two years of supervised release, during which she will be required to perform 800 hours of community service. In sentencing, the judge said he gave her the maximum under her plea deal to send a message to athletes who have abused drugs and overlooked the values of “hard work, dedication, teamwork and sportsmanship.”

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. Jones is also now said to be in financial ruin.

The 6-month prison sentence seem a bit harsh, don’t you think?

THIS WEEK’S TOPICS » Tiffany “New York” Pollard caught in a sex tape scandal! - Vivica A. Fox denies her Sex Tape - Kim Kardashian’s ass is major & more!

SHAUNIE: “I WANT TO SAVE OUR MARRIAGE” » Shaquille O’Neal’s divorce battle may be postponed, as his wife Shaunie Nelson has filed papers to the court denying that her marriage is irretrievably broken down. The basketball legend filed for divorce last month claiming that his wife had been “secretive about her assets … particularly with respect to certain properties owned or titled in either (her) name alone or in other entities.” However, Nelson denies this secrecy stating that she has “nothing to hide.” The wife of Shaquille is asking the court to grant her a three-month continuance so that she can attempt to save her marriage and ignore her husband’s divorce application. [ ENTERTAINMENTWISE ] CONTINUE READING

Dayummmm homie! After tons of tests and accusations, Marion Jones (famous for winning 5 Olympic medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000) has admitted to using steroids. She will be stripped of her winnings (medals included) and has made a decision to quit track and field. Below is a statement from Ms. Jones herself:

Making these false statements to federal agents was an incredibly stupid thing for me to do, and I am responsible fully for my actions. I have no one to blame but myself for what I’ve done. To you, my fans, including my young supporters, the United States Track & Field Association, my closest friends, my attorneys, and the most classy family a person could ever hope for, mainly my mother, my husband, my children, my brother and his family, my uncle and the rest of my extended family, I want you to know that I have been dishonest, and you the have the right to be angry with me.

I have let them down. I have let my country down. And I have let myself down. I recognize that by saying that I’m deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and the hurt that I have caused you. Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I have asked Almighty God for my forgiveness. Having said this and because of my actions, I am retiring from the sport of track and field, a sport that I deeply love. I promise that these events will be used to make the lives of many people improve. That by making the wrong choices and bad decisions can be disastrous. I want to thank you all for your time.