From correspondents in Washington, United States, 08:31 AM IST

Disgraced US sprinter Marion Jones has finally been released from prison after completing a six-month term behind bars for lying to federal investigators over steroid use.

Jones was released Friday from a halfway house in San Antonio, Texas, a Federal Bureau of Prisons official confirmed.

Jones, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury in October. While leaving the courthouse she made a tearful plea for public forgiveness for her 'incredibly stupid' decision.

Jones won five gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but was stripped of the medals after admitting she doped before the games.

Jones was questioned by federal authorities in connection with an investigation into the San Francisco Bay Area laboratory BALCO, whose executives were sent to prison for distributing steroids to several top athletes.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)