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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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0 4 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 4 Jones - set to take legal action
sportinglife.com
Marion Jones has announced she will take legal action after she was accused of taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs. The allegations were levelled by Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), who has been charged along with three other men of distributing illegal steroids and money laundering.
In a statement issued through her lawyer, Jones said: "Victor Conte's allegations about me are not true, and the truth will come out in the appropriate forum. "I have instructed my lawyers to vigorously explore a defamation lawsuit against Victor Conte."
Jones' lawyers have also questioned Conte's credibility thanks to his involvement in the biggest doping scandal in sporting history. Her lawyer Richard Nicholls said yesterday: "Marion has steadfastly maintained her position throughout: she has never, ever used performance-enhancing drugs.
"Victor Conte is a man facing a 42-count federal indictment, while Marion Jones is one of America's most decorated female athletes. Mr Conte's statements have been wildly contradictory. Mr Conte chose to make unsubstantiated allegations on television, while Marion Jones demanded to take and then passed a lie detector examination. Mr Conte is simply not credible. We challenge him to submit to the same lie detector procedure that Marion Jones passed."
Both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were keeping a close eye on proceedings. Under the stewardship of president Jacques Rogge, the IOC has adopted a zero tolerance stance on drugs as they look to ensure that systematic doping programmes that were implemented in the former Eastern Bloc in the 1970s and 80s [ErGs] are not allowed to prosper. If the allegations were shown to have any basis in truth, Jones could be stripped of her medals from Sydney.
Jones became caught up in the affair when she testified before the BALCO federal grand jury and has been under investigation for steroid use by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) ever since. She has never failed a drugs test but this is no longer a fail-safe defence.
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