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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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2 1 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 4 BALCO boss: Feds wanted athletes recorded
Investigators wanted secret tapings, Conte says
George Nikitin
SAN FRANCISCO - Victor Conte, head of the BALCO lab at the center of a global steroid scandal, says in court papers to be filed on Friday that a federal agent last year asked him if he would secretly record athletes suspected of doping.
The papers come ahead of a December 1 hearing at which a judge will review motions to dismiss the case that has tarnished the reputations of some of the top names in international sport.
In one document, Conte recalls a September 3, 2003 search of his office in which Internal Revenue Agent Jeff Novitzky questioned him. “Novitzky even asked if I was willing to wear a wire and secure evidence of the involvement of anyone,” he declared. “I told him ‘absolutely not”’.
Conte said he did list athletes with whom he had worked. Many of those he named were later called to testify behind closed doors before a federal grand jury. “We simply made a list of athletes that I had worked with and provided legal services,” Conte said in the filing. “I did not at anytime say that I provided the ’clear’ and the “cream” to any of the athletes that were put on his list,” he said, referring to two steroids.
“At no time did I confess to distributing steroids.”
In a late October court filing, IRS agent Novitzky wrote: “Conte openly acknowledged giving testosterone-base cream — itself a steroid — to numerous professional athletes and specifically identified the names of the specific athletes to whom he had given drugs.”
Among those athletes named in a separate IRS memorandum on that conversation are baseball stars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi; football player Bill Romanowski; and a long list of track and field stars including Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.
Novitzky’s filings made no reference to asking Conte to wear a wire. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office overseeing the case declined to comment. In another declaration on Friday, Conte’s deputy James Valente also says Novitzky asked Conte “if he would be willing to participate in their investigation by wearing a wire and then communicating with several people. He asked Victor if he would record his future communications with certain doctors, athletes and others such as Patrick Arnold.”
According to an IRS memo made public in court documents last month, Arnold sold Conte a supply of the “clear” for $450 that lasted for several years.
A number of athletes related to BALCO, including world 100 metres record holder Tim Montgomery and former Olympic 4x100 metres gold medalist Chryste Gaines, have been charged with serious doping violations by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Conte and Valente, as well as Barry Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson and track and field couch Remi Korchemny all face federal steroid distribution charges.
In their latest court filing, Conte and Valente also said prosecutors irreparably tainted the case by leaking damaging details to the public. “From the very beginning, they misused their authority by expending government funds to target high profile athletes for their personal aggrandizement,” their attorneys wrote.
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