Marion Jones

Salvo (US): The IAAF hopes the six-month prison sentence handed down to disgraced American Olympic sprinter Marion Jones will deter others from taking drugs, it said on Friday.

“There is a lot of sadness for Marion and her family,” International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) spokesman Nick Davies said after Jones was sentenced for lying about her steroid use and her knowledge of a fraud case.

“Six months in prison is a lot,” Davies said by telephone from IAAF headquarters in Monte Carlo. “But you do hope that it will be a deterrent to others.

“Hopefully when she is out of prison she can help the IAAF and other organisations to ensure that other people don’t follow the path that she certainly followed. It (her doping) has certainly hurt the image of the sport.”

USA Track & Field also hoped Jones’s downfall would serve as a lesson. (REUTERS)