fpb | Marion Jones

If only more people were as dignified in any moment as Marion Jones was yesterday when facing jail. No recriminations, no self-justification, no complaints. And yet, if she had wanted to, she could have said a lot in her own defence; chiefly, that she was operating in an American athletics world that was plainly and universally corrupt, in which everybody cheated. If she wanted to say that she had been made a scapegoat, she could have done so with some credibility. But she did not. "I respect the decision of the judge", even though the judge sent her to jail. Period. I used to be a fan, and though the revelation of her cheating disappointed me severely, her behaviour yesterday means that, in spite of all her crimes, she is entitled to say what she said: "I stand for what is right". And never mind that she called them "mistakes": everyone does these days, it's more or less contemporary jargon - but she clearly meant that what she had done was wrong and that people should "learn from" it. It seems to me that this woman may have got as much from discovery and humiliation as many good people get from blameless and useful lives. Good luck to her.