Jones had never failed a drug test until 2006 when traces of the banned substance EPO were found.
Her initial sample had tested positive for erythropoietin at the US championships in Indianapolis in June. Had the second sample tested positive, the 30-year-old would have faced a two-year ban from the sport.
She became the first athlete convicted in connection with the probe into the San Francisco-area laboratory BALCO, the centre of a doping scandal that has tarnished the reputations of leading athletes in baseball, American football and athletics.
In 2004, she told reporters she had "never, never" used performance-enhancing drugs and that "I have accomplished what I have accomplished because of my God-given abilities and hard work."
Her reputation came into question as those around her were ensnared in steroids controversies.
Her then-husband C.J. Hunter, the 1999 world shot put champion, tested positive for steroids four times in 2000.
Tim Montgomery, former world record holder in the 100 metres and father of one of Jones' children, was banned for two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after evidence showed he had taken THG.
Advertisement
