ATHLETICS/DIGEST:Lawyers representing disgraced Olympic sprinter Marion Jones have asked a federal judge to sentence her to probation rather than time in prison. "She has been cast from American hero to national disgrace," her lawyers said in a memorandum filed this week with a New York federal court before her scheduled sentencing on January 11th.

Jones pleaded guilty in October to two felonies, lying about her steroid use and her knowledge of the involvement of her ex-boyfriend and former 100m world record holder Tim Montgomery in a check fraud case. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Jones faces up to six months in jail.

She has been stripped of the five Olympic medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Games and all her results since September 2000 have been annulled.