History suggests the United States should clean up in the boxing ring at the Summer Olympics. Team USA has 48 gold medals to Cuba’s 32, far more than any other country in the modern era. But it might as well be the ancient Olympics. The U.S. is a distant third on the Beijing odds list at 5-1, behind Russia (10-11) and Cuba (7-4).

The twilight of American boxing was the 1988 Games in Seoul, where Team USA won three gold medals (it should have been four – Roy Jones Jr. was shafted). They’ve won a total of three since then. Cuba has 20. However, their boxing team has been decimated by a series of defections. None of the five winners from Athens will be at Beijing this year.

That leaves the powerful Russian team. They won three gold medals at Athens and picked up another three at last year’s World Boxing Championships. No Ivan Drago jokes, please.

Marion Jones falls from grace and lands herself in jail.

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia U.S. runner Marion Jones made history by becoming the first female athlete to win five medals in a single Games, three of them gold. Fast forward to 2008 and Jones has again made the headlines — this time for lying about her steroid abuse. She’s since been stripped of her medals and her records have been expunged. Today, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Jones to six months in jail.

“Athletes in society have an elevated status, they entertain, they inspire, and perhaps, most important, they serve as role models,” Karas said.

The mother of two also received two years’ probation and supervised release, during which time she will be required to perform 800 hours of community service.

“I respect the judge’s order, and I truly hope that people will learn from my mistakes,” Jones told reporters following sentencing.

SportbettingInformation.com wonders if the medals will now go to the rightful athletes who competed and placed at those Olympics…?