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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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Conte criticized by Greek coach
By ELLIOTT ALMOND BALCO Laboratories founder Victor Conte Jr. came under fire Tuesday from associates of Greek sprint stars Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou because of an e-mail correspondence. Responding to a San Jose Mercury News report that an e-mail from BALCO implied the Greeks had access to THG, the sprinters' coach Christos Tzekos said Conte had wanted to generate publicity by using the athletes' names. The sprinters' lawyer made the same claim. ''The bid to implicate us in the BALCO affair is old,'' Tzekos told reporters in Athens, Greece. The e-mail was included in papers filed last week by U.S. prosecutors to rebut a defense motion to dismiss charges against four Bay Area men accused of distributing banned drugs to elite athletes. Written by Conte in August 2002, it did not say he supplied the Greeks with drugs. It did identify the Greeks by name as having access to the same agents as British sprint champion Dwain Chambers, who was banned for taking THG. Internal Revenue Service agent Jeff Novitzky implied in a declaration that the Greeks used THG and a testosterone cream. But the assumption could be wrong because athletes allegedly also used a variety of substances, including EPO, modafinil and insulin. The Greeks also could have received THG from other sources. A handful of individuals, including some in bodybuilding, are believed to have had access to the previously undetectable steroid. The government has alleged at least 27 athletes received the drug from BALCO. Triple jumper Olga Vasdeki, a two-time Olympian, is the only Greek on the list. Kenteris and Thanou were Greece's big stars after the Sydney Games. Kenteris won the 200 meters, and Thanou was second in the women's 100. But both withdrew from the Athens Olympics after missing a drug test in which they are accused of fabricating an excuse involving a motorcycle accident. Greek authorities are considering prosecuting them for making false statements. Tzekos, who no longer coaches Kenteris because of the scandal, also has been investigated.
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