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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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3 0 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 4 Conte going public with BALCO on 20/20
By Mark Emmons and Pete Carey
It appears that Victor Conte Jr. is ready for his close-up. The man at the center of the biggest sports doping scandal in history is expected to tell his story on the ABC program "20/20" on Friday night -- a development that puzzled some legal experts.
The network began airing promos late last week claiming that an unnamed man who gave steroids to some of the world's greatest athletes is ready to talk. While Conte, the founder of Burlingame's BALCO Laboratories, declined comment Monday, the San Jose Mercury News has learned that he was interviewed by ABC. An ABC spokeswoman declined comment.
The interview is expected to be included with a story on steroids and track and field. It's not clear what Conte has to say. A source familiar with the story said the network was still working on the piece.
It marks another odd twist in an already sensationalized case. Word of the TV special -- to air at 10 p.m. on Channel 7 -- comes ahead of a hearing Wednesday at which Conte's lawyers will attempt to have the criminal case thrown out based on claims of pre-trial publicity and governmental misconduct.
Guaranteed to be among the interested viewers will be federal prosecutors, as well as lawyers for such prominent athletes as Giants star Barry Bonds and sprinter Marion Jones, who have been linked to a case that has had reverberations throughout the sports world.
Jerrold Colton, a lawyer for banned sprinter Kelli White, said he believes the special would target Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. White, from Union City, admitted in May that she used drugs from BALCO.
"They're going to out Marion Jones that she lied to the grand jury," said Colton, who added that Conte also has given an in-depth interview to ESPN the Magazine, which, like ABC, is owned by the Walt Disney Company.
White, Colton said, is considering an offer to be interviewed for the program. But others have declined.
Martin Bashir en Michael Jackson
Dick Pound, the World Anti-Doping Agency chairman, said he turned down an interview request from ABC reporter Martin Bashir, who promised a "big expose" on drugs. Howard Jacobs, the lawyer for 100-meter world-record holder Tim Montgomery, also said he declined Bashir's request to interview the sprinter.
Bashir, an English journalist best known for a controversial report about Michael Jackson, told Pound that the topics of questions
Four men -- Conte, BALCO executive Jim Valente, Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson and East Bay track coach Remi Korchemny -- were indicted this year on charges of distributing illegal drugs and laundering money.
Wednesday, lawyers for Conte and Valente plan to argue before U.S. District Judge Susan Illston that the charges should be dismissed because of investigator misconduct and "government-generated" pre-trial publicity.
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