Marion Jones completed her journey from the Olympic summit to a prison cell yesterday when she was sentenced to six months for lying to federal investigators about doping and cheque fraud.

The disgraced American sprinter, who admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs in a tearful confession in October, cried again as she begged Judge Kenneth Karas not to separate her from her two children when she appeared in court in White Plains, New York. However, in passing sentence, Karas said Jones had not made “a momentary lapse in judgment, a one-time mistake, but instead a repetition in an attempt to break the law”.

“Nobody is above the legal obligation to tell the truth,” Karas said. Jones was also sentenced to two years’ supervised release and 800 hours of community service.

Jones’s life and career have been in tatters since she ended years of suspicion and innuendo by admitting to taking tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) since 1999, a year before she became an international star by winning three gold and two bronze medals at the Sydney Olympics. The medals have since been returned.

However, in coming clean, the 32-year-old attempted to put the blame on Trevor Graham, her former coach, and denied knowingly taking THG, a claim that conflicted with court documents that included a detailed doping calendar.

In the last act of a dramatic fall from grace, Jones talked about her role as a mother and pleaded with Karas for leniency. “Yes, I made mistakes by lying,” she said. “I have admitted these too late, but hopefully not too late to elicit from you the milk of human kindness.” Karas was unmoved and gave her the maximum sentence he could under her plea deal.

“Athletes in society have an elevated status. They entertain, they inspire and perhaps most importantly they do serve as role models for children around the world,” the judge said. “When there is this widespread cheating, it sends all the wrong messages to those who follow the athlete’s every move.”

But Jones’s cousin, Andrea Andrade, said Karas had sent a different message to athletes by imposing the prison sentence. “The message to professional athletes is to not tell the truth because you will be dealt with more harshly if you tell the truth than if you deny and you are found guilty,” she said.

As well as lying to federal investigators in 2003 about doping, Jones lied about her knowledge of the involvement of Tim Montgomery, the father of her older son, in a scheme to cash millions of dollars of stolen or forged cheques. Montgomery has been convicted.

Jones was allowed to leave court but she must surrender to the authorities to begin her sentence on March 11.

“As everyone can imagine, I’m very disappointed today,” Jones said outside court. “I respect the judge’s order, and I hope that people will learn from my mistakes. I know the day is approaching when my boys ask me about these events. I intend to be honest and forthright and guide them into not making the same mistakes.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency described the case as “a very sad example of an athlete who has cheated but denied it for years”. “We hope that athletes who may be tempted to cheat will take to heart this lesson and that this case will serve as a strong deterrent,” a statement read.