- "The US anti-doping agency... said yesterday that
some of America's most high-profile athletes have tested positive for a
new, specially designed anabolic steroid that until a few weeks ago was
undetectable."
-
- Visitors to the website of the San Francisco-based Bay
Area Laboratory Cooperative (Balco) could not fail to be impressed by the
list of sporting superstars it claims to have helped achieve success with
its range of nutritional products.
-
- There is the Czech Ivan Lendl, one of the finest tennis
players in history; the American sprinter Marion Jones, winner of a record
five Olympic medals at the 2000 Sydney games; Barry Bonds, perhaps the
most fearsome hitter in baseball; and John Elway of the Denver Broncos,
arguably the greatest ever quarterback in American football.
-
- They are a small part of a roster that reads like a who's
who of world sport. Others the lab's founder, Victor Conte, has boasted
of helping include the British sprinter Dwain Chambers, the fastest man
in Europe and a contender for the 100m gold medal at the Athens Olympics
next year.
-
- Balco claims to have given Chambers, and all its clients,
an edge over competitors with a unique approach to nutrition that ensured
they reached peak performance when it mattered. But Balco has now become
the focus of potentially the biggest doping scandal in sport since Ben
Johnson was disqualified after testing positive at the 1988 Olympics following
his victory in the 100m.
-
- There is no suggestion that Chambers or any of the other
athletes named on the website have been involved in any illegal practices,
but by his association alone, it is a scandal that Chambers could find
himself unwittingly drawn into.
-
- The US anti-doping agency, an independent organisation
that oversees drug testing in the country, said yesterday that some of
America's most high-profile athletes have tested positive for a new, specially
designed anabolic steroid that until a few weeks ago was undetectable.
The agency believes the source of the steroid, known as tetrahydrogestrinone,
or THG, is Balco.
-
- The agency's chief executive officer, Terry Madden, spoke
of a widespread "conspiracy" involving chemists, coaches and
athletes. "I know of no other drug bust that is larger than this involving
the number of athletes involved," he said.
-
- Mr Madden would not reveal how many athletes have tested
positive and the names of most are a closely guarded secret. But the list
is believed to include some of the biggest stars in sport - Olympic champions,
world champions and world record holders. Only one competitor has so far
been identified - Kevin Toth, the US shot put champion. He has refused
to comment.
-
- Athletes found guilty will face a minimum two-year suspension
and potentially a life ban if the world governing body, the International
Association of Athletics Federations, concludes they have been part of
a greater plot to cheat. If speculation is correct, the US track team for
next summer's Olympics could be decimated, while Balco's association with
other sports means this could be the doping scandal that dwarfs all that
have gone before.
-
- Cheats
-
- Anabolic steroids are popular with athletes, particularly
in the sprint and strength events, because they help build muscle mass
rapidly and enable competitors to recover quickly from hard training. An
endless cat-and-mouse relationship exists between those who seek to cheat
and those who try to stop them, and it is a battle that America has been
regarded as less than committed to in the past.
-
- The tale, which has the hallmarks of an espionage novel,
started in June when the drugs agency received an anonymous tip-off from
a man who described himself as an athletics coach. He gave them a list
of athletes he alleged were using a new form of anabolic steroid, ingested
by placing drops from a syringe under the tongue.
-
- The coach, Mr Madden said, identified the source of the
THG as Mr Conte at Balco labs. He followed up his call by sending the agency
a syringe containing the substance.
-
- Code cracked
-
- The sample was analysed at the International Olympic
Committee-accredited laboratory in Los Angeles. Scientists there spent
six weeks investigating before they discovered THG had a chemical structure
similar to two banned anabolic steroids but that certain molecules had
been modified to avoid detection.
-
- Once they had cracked the code, the head of the lab,
Dr Don Catlin, widely considered the world's foremost expert on drugs in
sport, reviewed more than 550 urine samples taken from American athletes
earlier in the year and found the drug present in an unusually high number.
In a typical testing, 1% to 1.5% of the group would test positive - five
or six athletes.
-
- "Everything that the coach has identified to us
up to this time is true," said Mr Madden. "We are fairly certain
this substance came from Victor Conte and Balco labs."
-
- The operation was kept secret but the drugs agency contacted
the Justice Department with its findings. On September 23 agents from the
Internal Revenue Service, a San Mateo County narcotics task force and drugs
agency officials swooped on Balco's offices, in a nondescript building
shared by a toyshop and a limousine service.
-
- Two days later, agents searched the homes of Marion Jones.
It is not known whether anything was found. During the 2000 Olympics in
Sydney, Jones' former husband, the shot putter CJ Hunter, withdrew from
the US team after testing positive four times for steroids, which Mr Conte
confirmed were contained in iron supplements he had supplied.
-
- Now, about 40 athletes from across the US have been subpoenaed
to testify before a federal grand jury next Thursday. Among those who have
admitted being called to give evidence is the American sprinter Kelli White,
winner of the 100m and 200m at the world championships in Paris in August.
She already faces losing her two gold medals and $120,000 (£72,000)
in prize money after testing positive following her victories for the stimulant
modafinil, which the sprinter claims she took for narcolepsy.
-
- White is listed by Mr Conte, along with Chambers, as
a member of his ZMA Track Club organisation. A spokesman for Chambers last
night refused to confirm that he had a relationship with Mr Conte, but
earlier this year the Guardian received an email from Mr Conte on Chambers'
behalf, complaining that the London-born sprinter had been reported to
have trained with Dennis Mitchell, a convicted drugs cheat.
-
- "Dennis has a tainted reputation and any alleged
association with Dwain may be damaging to Dwain's career," Mr Conte
wrote.
-
- The Ukrainian coach of Chambers and White, Remi Korchemny,
said he was unaware of any investigation into steroid use. "I used
Balco as a nutrition company," he said. "I get vitamins and ZMA
from them. But that's it."
-
- ZMA is a zinc and magnesium supplement, which since 1999
has grossed the company about $100m worldwide through 50 distributors.
According to a magazine article linked from the company's web site, it
is an "anabolic mineral support formula" that enhances "muscle
strength, endurance, healing and growth".
-
- Mr Conte claimed yesterday that none of his activities
is illegal and that he is the victim of a vendetta. "In my opinion,
this is about jealous competitive coaches and athletes that all have a
history of promoting and using performance enhancing agents being completely
hypocritical in their actions," he said.
-
- "As many will soon find out, the world of track
and field is a very dirty business and this goes far beyond just the coaches
and athletes. Fasten your seatbelts!"
-
- Athletics and its major stars are braced for a rough
ride.
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1065862,00.html
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