Here’s a quick video from ESPN about American sprinter Kelli White, who came clean about her drug use. There’s a lot of talk about what might have happened if Marion Jones had also admitted hers, with ESPN’s Mark Fainaru-Wada saying that Jones might not be in prison.

Unlike Jones, though, White became a truth-teller. She had admitted her doping to the government at the onset of the BALCO case, and she stayed that course when challenged by USADA in May 2004. White had struggled with the decision to admit her sins publicly, but the weight of the evidence and her conscience finally led her to come clean.

She admitted cheating her way to the top, confessing to the use of an array of performance enhancers, and accepted a two-year ban from competition that saw her world titles wiped off the books. White, though, used the public vetting to regain control of her life, first by becoming part of the anti-doping movement and later by going back to college.

Now, in the coming months, she is scheduled to complete an MBA program — even as Jones serves her prison term.

I’m glad White avoided prison by admitting her drug use, but I think she’s getting a bit too much credit for a moral decision. Her conscience didn’t start pricking when she used steroids to win medals, her conscience didn’t start bothering her until she was under investigation and likely to lose her medals and be banned from sports.

Via ESPN