Disgraced sprinter Jones reports to prison

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. sprinter Marion Jones reported to a federal prison in Texas on Friday to begin serving a six-month sentence for lying to prosecutors about steroid use that helped her win five medals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Jones, who had until Tuesday to turn herself in, surrendered to authorities at Carswell Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, said U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley. Jones, 32, has been stripped of the Olympic medals, three of which were gold, and all of her performances as of September 2000 have been erased from the record books.For years, she denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but in October pleaded guilty to two charges of perjury.She admitted she had lied to investigators in 2003 when she denied knowing that she took the banned substance tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), known as "the clear," before the 2000 Olympics. In a January hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Jones to two six-month sentences behind bars, to run concurrently. The Carswell prison is a facility where prisoners with medical problems are incarcerated, but not all inmates there are ailing, said Billingsley. She could not disclose if Jones was sent there for medical reasons. SOURCE OF THIS STORY