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More revelations in doping scandal to come
The biggest doping scandal to hit sports since Ben Johnson is about to heat up again
CBC Four men charged with supplying steriods to some of the world's top athletes will ask a judge to throw out the charges against them Friday, CBC News' Tom Harrington has learned. Victor Conte and his three co-defendants will present evidence that they say proves misconduct by the Internal Revenue Service agent who was the lead investigator in their case. Conte is the owner of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) in Oakland. His list of clients was a who's-who of the sports world, including world-class sprinters and Major League Baseball players. In the past year, several American sprinters, including world champion Kelli White, have been sanctioned by U.S. anti-doping officials after being implicated in the BALCO affair. Since news of the investigation became public, several American publications have reported testimony given by professional atheles in confidential grand jury testimony. An article in this week's Sports Illustrated quotes the testimony of New York Yankees slugger Gary Sheffield, who claimed to have unknowingly used steroids on a knee injury when he applied a balm supplied by BALCO. Sources close to the case tell CBC that evidence of alleged IRS misconduct will be presented along with evidence of "illegal leaks" by federal prosecutors. All of the evidence contained in the motion, sources say, will become public knowledge, some of which will be revealed for the first time. Conte and others involved with the BALCO were arrested after a raid by U.S. federal authorities in September last year. Conte was charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Conte has continually denied giving performance-enhancing drugs to any athlete. According to Sheffield, he didn't know the substances contained what are now alleged to have been steroids. The Sports Illustrated article goes on to detail the decline in Sheffield's relationship with Barry Bonds, due in part to Sheffield's experience with BALCO. Bonds, the San Francisco Giants home-run star, was Conte's and Bonds' trainer is one of the men facing charges in California. Conte's lawyer, Robert Holley, told the CBC, "BALCO provided Gary Sheffield with no illegal substances and the cheque BALCO received from Sheffield was for legal nutritional supplements." Observers expect that Friday's motion to dismiss will set a series of further legal manoeuvres in motion. Efforts to reach a plea bargain in the case failed earlier this year. |
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
