SAN FRANCISCO, 29 February 2004 — Two central figures in a global steroid scandal, including baseball legend Barry Bonds’ personal trainer, said through their attorneys on Friday that Bonds never took illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
The federal grand jury indictment of four men two weeks ago, including Bonds’s trainer, for conspiring to distribute steroids has intensified scrutiny as the slugger seeks to overtake Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays for third place in all-time home runs.
Bonds got backing on Friday from the head of BALCO labs, Victor Conte, whose nutritional firm south of San Francisco is accused of providing illegal steroids to top athletes in baseball, football and track and field.
“He knows of no illegal activity that ever took place with Barry Bonds,” Conte’s attorney, Robert Holley, told reporters after a courtroom appearance. Conte stood by his side, grinning and nodding slightly, but he declined to speak with reporters. The attorney for Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson, said Anderson had offered the San Francisco Giants star BALCO supplements, which he did not take. The burly Anderson, carrying a large carton of grand jury documents presented by prosecutors on Friday, declined to say whether Bonds had ever taken steroids. “I am not talking to anyone please,” he said.
Fans have wondered for years how Bonds could steadily increase his home run output into his late 30s, a time when many players lose their edge and look toward retirement.
Bonds’ home run production increased dramatically in the 2000 season, when he was 36 years old, after he first started taking nutritional supplements from BALCO.
Bonds has publicly praised BALCO and Conte but denied taking steroids.
Conte for his part appeared to be in an unusually gregarious mood. Conte was overheard telling Anderson in an amused voice before their court appearance. “I mean, everybody saw it, everybody watched that.”
The BALCO story has already sent shockwaves through the world of sport. Britain’s European 100-meters champion Dwain Chambers was banned for two years on Tuesday after failing a test for the new designer steroid THG that authorities believe came from BALCO.
Four US athletes have tested positive for THG: US shot put champion Kevin Toth; hammer thrower John McEwen; American women’s hammer champion Melissa Price; and middle-distance runner Regina Jacobs.
Jerome Young Suing USATF, USOC
Jerome Young, whose positive doping case sparked international controversy, has filed a lawsuit against the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and USA Track & Field (USATF), said USATF spokeswoman Jill Geer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Geer, in a telephone interview from Boston, told Reuters on Friday that the lawsuit had been filed by the American sprinter’s attorneys in US federal court in Indianapolis earlier this month.
“I can confirm that Jerome Young has sued USA Track & Field and the USOC,” Geer said. She would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit but said an Indianapolis judge had ruled on Friday against a request by Young’s attorneys to have the case heard “under seal”, which would have prevented his name being mentioned in court.
