Marion Jones was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison for lying about using steroids and a cheque fraud scam, despite her plea that she not be separated from her two young children ''even for a short period of time.''

"I ask you to be as merciful as a human being can be,'' said Jones, who cried on her husband's shoulder after she was sentenced.

The disgraced former Olympic champion was ordered to surrender March 11 to begin her term.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas 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.''

"Athletes in society have an elevated status, they entertain, they inspire, and perhaps, most important, they serve as role models,'' Karas said.

The 31-year-old Jones also was given two years probation and supervised release, during which she will be required to perform 800 hours of community service.

The judge said this would take advantage of Jones' "eloquence, strength and her ability to work with kids.''

It was her children that worried Jones most as she beseeched the judge for a lighter sentence, talking at length about her two boys, including the infant son she's still nursing.

"My passion in life has always been my family,'' Jones said. ''I know the day is quickly approaching when my boys ask me about these current events. I intend to be honest and forthright ... and guide them into not making the same mistakes.''

The sentence completes a stunning fall for the woman who was once the most celebrated female athlete in the world. She won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

performance-enhancing drugs

After long denying she ever had used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted last October she lied to federal investigators in November 2003, acknowledging she took the designer steroid 'the clear' from September 2000 to July 2001. ''The clear'' has been linked to BALCO, the lab at the centre of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

She also admitted lying about her knowledge of the involvement of Tim Montgomery, the father of her older son Monty, in a scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged cheques. Montgomery and several others have been convicted in that scam. They include Jones' former coach, Olympic champion Steve Riddick.

After her guilty pleas last October, Jones made an apologetic and teary-eyed statement outside court, saying, "It's with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust.''

"I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me,'' she added. "I have let (my family) down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down. ... I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.''

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 - even before the International Olympic Committee ordered her to do so and 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.

On the day she pleaded guilty, prosecutors said a 2003 search warrant at BALCO uncovered ledgers, purchases, doping calendars, and various *lo**-test results connected to Jones and former coach Trevor Graham.

She took EPO, human growth hormone and THG using drops and injections, according to the court documents that show use in 2000 and 2001.