Marion Jones out of prison
Last Updated: Friday, September 5, 2008 | 1:23 PM ET
The Associated Press
Former Olympic champion Marion Jones, shown with husband and former sprinter Obadele Thompson, is out of prison. (Louis Lanzano/Associated Press)Disgraced track star Marion Jones was released from prison early Friday morning, according to a U.S. federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman.
Jones, 31, served nearly the entire six months of her sentence and was released from a halfway house in San Antonio. Her sentence also included 800 hours of community service and two years' probation.
She was sent to prison in March in Fort Worth, Texas, after admitting lying to federal investigators about her use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Jones won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming perhaps the most famous and marketable female athlete in the world.
After frequently denying ever having used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted last year that she had lied to federal investigators in November 2003.
Jones also admitted lying about her knowledge of the involvement of Tim Montgomery, the father of one of her two children, in a scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged cheques.
Montgomery and several others have been convicted in that scam. Montgomery was sentenced to just under four years and faces additional prison time after pleading guilty in July to a heroin distribution charge.
Jones returned her Olympic medals — golds in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 1,600-metre relay and bronzes in the long jump and 400-metre relay. The International Olympic Committee wiped her results from the books.
Jones was among the many athletes who testified in 2003 before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative near San Francisco.
On the day she pleaded guilty, prosecutors said a 2003 search warrant at BALCO uncovered ledgers, purchases, doping calendars, and various blood-test results connected to Jones and former coach Trevor Graham.
She took EPO, human growth hormone and THG using drops and injections, according to court documents.
Jones married Olympic bronze medal sprinter Obadele Thompson in 2007 and the couple had a child later in the year.
