Up to Speed....

I didn't want this whole Marion Jones catastrophe to pass by without commenting on how unfortunate the whole thing is. I mean, as someone who is typically less involved in professional track and field than (I dare to say) most people who consider themselves "runners", this hit home. I mean, what a nightmare!

This once fierce woman who cleaned up at the 2000 Olympics and was an inspiration to a whole nation of female athletes is now seeing what will (hopefully) be her lowest low. Her judge, Kenneth Karas commented, "People live with their choices" after sentencing her to 6mths jail time and 800hrs of community service (and this isn't even touching on the whole check fraud thing. Just sad!). He's obviously chosen to make quite the example out of Marion.

Personally, I think her sentence is a bit too harsh and the "warning" to other professional athletes would have gotten across without going to such an extreme. What she did is undoubtedly disgraceful, but I think forfeiting your Olympic medals and doing 800 hours of community service and outreach programming (not to mention the endless feelings of shame and embarrassment) would have sufficed.

How does this match up with former athletes caught lying about the use or performance enhancing drugs? Is the 6mth sentence a bit harsh?