Shamed Olympic sprinter Marion Jones has yet to break the news of her impending prison sentence to her four-year-old son, because it’s too "challenging".

The American athlete was sentenced to six months in prison last Friday (11Jan08) after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud over her steroid use in October (07).

As well as jail time, Jones will also serve community service upon her release.

But the mother-of-two, who must turn herself into police custody by 11 March (08) to begin her sentence, admits she is struggling to find the words to explain her fate to her little boy Tim Montgomery Jr., from her previous relationship to fellow sprinter Tim Montgomery.

Speaking to chatshow queen Oprah Winfrey on Wednesday (16Jan08), she said: "It’s a very sensitive topic, and we’re not dealing with a 15-year-old here who perceives things a different way.

"We’re talking about a four-year-old who was upset this morning that I couldn’t drop him off at school, you know? It’s going to be challenging."

But Jones, who has another child less than a year old with husband Obadele Thompson, claims she has no regrets about her actions.

She adds, "Everybody strays at some point in their life, and I strayed and I made mistakes and I am no different than anybody else except for the fact that you see me on the front page of the paper."

The mother-of-two collected five gold medals at two Olympic Games, but was stripped of the three gold and two bronze awards she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics following her confession last year (07)