A member of the gold medal winning US 4 X 400m relay team has admitted that the he used performance enhancing drugs during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Antonio Pettigrew admitted using performance enhancers and the admission can mean that gold medals won by fellow relay team members Alvin and Calvin Harrison are also in jeopardy.

From Foxsports.com.au:

Pettigrew testified that Graham encouraged him in 1997 to inject human growth hormone and the oxygen-boosting drug EPO, which are both banned in track.

Soon after, Pettigrew said, he began buying the drugs from Angel “Memo” Heredia, an admitted steroids dealer from Laredo, Texas.

Once he began taking the banned substances, Pettigrew said he was able to run 400 metres in under 43 seconds for the first time.

“I was running incredible times as I was preparing for track meets,” Pettigrew said during 30 minutes of testimony.

“I was able to recover faster.”

Pettigrew initially lied to federal investigators and denied doping when they first talked to him in February 2005. But he finally confessed to cheating when confronted with documents in October 2006 strongly suggesting drug buys from Heredia.

Pettigrew’s admission came during a testimony in the trial of Trevor Graham, his former coach, who is accused of hiding the truth to federal authorities investigating doping in sports.

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In what may be a prelude to their meeting in court, Victor Conte and Shane Mosley traded accusations in connection with the boxer’s defamation suit.

Mosley had filed the suit in a New York state court against the founder of the California-based supplement company known as BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative). This is Mosley’s move to refute Conte’s allegations that he watched the boxer injected himself with performance-enhancing drugs and that Mosley knew what he was taking.

Mosley admitted that he had used performance-enhancing drugs but he continually insists that he didn’t know then that what he was taking were anabolic steroids.

Conte’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss Mosley’s suit and among the documents he filed was an affidavit that detailed the drugs and payments made by Mosley before he defeated Oscar De La Hoya in September 2003.

“I believe it is time for Shane Mosley to receive the consequences he deserves for lying about his use of performance enhancing drugs,” Conte said Tuesday in an e-mail to USA Today. “Other athletes associated with BALCO who have lied about their use of drugs have been banned from their sport, stripped of their records and medals and even spent time in jail.”

Meanwhile, Judd Burstein, Mosley’s lawyer, said Conte’s allegations “are completely false” and that he us sure that they will have a day in court. “I’m salivating to get Victor Conte under cross examination,” Burstein said.

From USA Today:

Among the documents Conte’s lawyer, Thomas Harvey, said he filed along with a motion to dismiss Mosley’s suit, is an affidavit in which Conte says he charged Mosley $900 for EPO and $600 for the steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear.” Conte says he billed Mosley an additional $150 for blood work and $200 for the limousine Mosley used during his visit to Conte’s offices. Conte also says Mosley paid him $500 in cash and, later, $1,350 by personal check.

The World Boxing Council revealed earlier this month it is investigating the doping allegations against Mosley, who won his WBC junior middleweight title fight against De La Hoya by a decision.

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Sometimes, it’s tough to be Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France champion has been on the radar of international drug testers since he announced his comeback in September.

The 37-year-old rider says he’s been drug tested 11 times in the past 18 weeks and two days in the past four days. His most recent test was conducted by officials from the International Cycling Union on Thursday at his Texas home according to AFP.

“UCI control. They flew a guy from Germany for it. That makes a ton of sense,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter, a social networking website.
Twitter allows users to send short messages which are then posted on subscribers’ cell phones and the Internet.

Armstrong even let his Twitter readers know that he was on his way to meet with the drug testers.

“I am back from the shop after riding four hours. I hear the drug testers are waiting at the house. #11,” he wrote.

Armstrong, who plans to resume his cycling career next year, was placed under a six-month probation period by the United States Anti-doping Agency at the beginning of August.

Armstrong needs to pass USADA’s out-of-competition testing pool before his cycling comeback can become official.

News of his return has drawn mixed reviews in cycling circles.

Armstrong’s career has been dogged by doping accusations, prompting him to file several lawsuits in the past years against his detractors to refute the allegations. Most explosive of the accusations was the report published in a French sports newspaper L’Equipe in 2005 which claimed that the six urine samples obtained from Armstrong from his 1999 Tour victory tested positive for the blood booster EPO.

Last month, Armstrong said that should he decide to join the Tour next year he said he fears for his personal safety due to a lot of resentment towards him France caused by negative publicity.

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In light of Oscar De La Hoya’s devastating loss to Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6, the Golden Boy may have some luster back in his career should he decide to sue Sugar Shane Mosley over the latter’s unanimous victory over him back in September 2003.

Mosley is now on the headlines due to his testimony before a grand jury that took place nearly three months after his win over De La Hoya. Mosley testified under oath that he used anabolic steroids and EPO in the lead-up to his fight against De La Hoya. His testimony was part of the BALCO file which was under protective order before a US federal judge recently released them in connection with the Barry Bonds doping case.

The Daily News did an interview with the Golden Boy’s managers prior to the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight and it was apparent that they were considering action against Mosley’s tainted victory.

Excerpts from the Daily News report:

Oscar De La Hoya’s managers will sit down with him after his fight Saturday night in Las Vegas and discuss whether he should appeal Sugar Shane Mosley’s unanimous decision over him in 2003.

“I think once we find out what the facts are it’s going to be up to Oscar to decide what he wanted to do. I wasn’t going to bring this up with Oscar this week with him trying to concentrate on the fight,” Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Boxing, told the Daily News. Golden Boy promotes both De La Hoya and Mosley and Schaefer said he will also discuss the transcripts with Mosley and his lawyer.

One way to settle the issue, Schaefer said, is if Mosley is willing to fight De La Hoya in the event that Mosley wins his fight against Antonio Margarito in L.A. on Jan. 24.

“We could probably work something out like that, possibly for next September,” Schaefer said. “That may be the best way to settle it.”

On Wednesday, Schaefer asked the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission if there were any grounds to overturn the decision.

Keith Kizer, the commission’s executive director, told Schaefer that to his knowledge, there wasn’t a basis to do so because the commission has to go by what the law said in 2003 when the match took place. At that time, there were no laws forbidding the usage of EPO in Nevada and the commission wasn’t given the authority to issue a “no-decision” in such a case until 2005.

As the alleged aggrieved party, however, De La Hoya has the option to file a request to have the decision overturned, Kizer said.

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According to the New York Daily News, boxer champ Shane Mosley is on the verge of being disqualified from the boxing world.

This developed as court transcripts revealed that prior to his fight with Oscar De La Hoya in 2003 Mosley had used anabolic steroids and EPO. Mosley won the title in said encounter. In a little under three months, Mosley confessed his doping activity before a grand jury.

The court transcripts were formerly held at protective order until they were recently released by US District Judge Susan Illston in connection with the Barry Bonds doping trial.

Because of Mosley’s apparent violation of the sport’s anti-doping policy, the World Boxing Council is taking steps to address the issue.

“It was a real surprise to read that Mosley has confessed that he did take those medicines, those drugs that are totally prohibited by the WBC,” said the Council’s president, Jose Sulaiman. “The WBC rules state that we must have a hearing. This is a matter of serious concern to us.”

“Thus far the WBC has seen only press reports, and must therefore investigate any available evidence and review it, in terms of the WBC rules and regulations’ anti-doping provisions,” said Robert Lenhardt, an attorney for the WBC.

WBC’s board of governors has the power to disqualify or fine a boxer even after the conclusion of a fight.

According to the WBC rules, no boxer “shall be under the influence of any drug during the contest that will in any manner affect their performance in the ring.”

Mosley’s next ring assignment is slated Jan. 24 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. He’s due to exchange blows with WBA welterweight title holder Antonio Margarito.

The Daily News had also reviewed the “doping calendars” seized at the BALCO raids in which Mosley’s doping activity was recorded. Below is its interpretation of the BALCO’s doping calendar and testimony.

The notations include the letters “L”, “C” and “E,” along with notations for when to take iron (2 iron), vitamin E (vit), folic acid (1 f) and B12 (1 B12). “L” stands for “liquid,” or “the clear,” which is the designer steroid THG. “C” stands for “the cream,” which is an epitestosterone/tesosterone substance. “E” stands for the blood booster EPO.

During the month of August, Mosley’s calendar says he took EPO eight times, injecting himself twice on each occasion on each side of his belly button.

At the bottom of the calendar the date of his fight with De La Hoya is noted - Sept. 13.

There are also notations at the top of the July calendar for the money Mosley paid Conte for his drugs. He paid the BALCO founder a total of $1850.

Here is the breakdown of Conte’s complicated math:

$1,650 = $900 (for EPO) + $600 (for “the clear and the cream”) + $150 (for blood tests)

$1,650 - $500 (paid in cash) = owes $1,150

$1,150 + $200 (Gateway Limo to airport) = $1,350 (paid by check)

In his grand jury transcript, Mosley admits to paying $500 in cash and $1350 by check.

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Chess grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk is now under scrutiny because of possible doping due to his refusal to submit a urine sample, according to report by Spiegel Online.

Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, known as “Big Chucky” in the chess world, is now considered guilty of doping because of his refusal. The world of chess is outraged that he could face a two-year ban.

On Nov. 25 on the last day of the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Ivanchuk, known as “Big Chucky” in the chess world, refused to a judge’s request to a drug test. He reportedly acted like a child in one of his tantrums, storming out of the conference center, kicking a concrete pillar, and so on. The show of temper could be attributed to the fact that he was asked to submit urine sample right after he lost to American Gata Kamsky. Or it could be that Ivanchuk was insulted by the request? It could also be that Ivanchuck had actually used anabolic steroids.

Whatever the reason behind his explosive resistance against testing he’s now considered guilty of a doping since refusal is treated as a positive test result.

From Spiegel Online:

Drug tests were introduced at international chess tournaments in 2001. The World Anti-Doping Agency classifies chess as a “low risk sport,” and so far no one has been convicted of doping. But what exactly does that mean?

It makes sense that anabolic steroids, the bulk-producing drug of choice for weightlifters, and EPO, the wonder drug of the cycling world, would not improve a chess player’s performance. But when a chess player nears the end of a match and comes under mounting pressure, he can hyperventilate, and his pulse can shoot up to 160 and his arterial blood pressure to 200. In that situation, beta-blockers could help a player keep his head clear.

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Don Catlin and his son Oliver are now at the helm of two U.S.-based cycling teams anti-doping programs, according to ESPN.

Pro cycling teams Columbia and Garmin-Slipstream jointly announced on Monday that they had inked a contract with the Anti-Doping Sciences Institute in Los Angeles. ADSI is run by the Catlins.

Both teams’ testing programs were formerly conducted by the Agency for Cycling Ethics which went into the red. The ADSI program will continue where ACE had left off, interpreting samples already in the database.

Garmin and Columbia also received a proposal from Danish anti-doping researcher Rasmus Damsgaard, but they eventually opted for Catlin. Columbia owner Bob Stapleton said Catlin’s program “was the more forward-looking and would add to the body of knowledge in the sport”.

More on this from the ESPN report:

Athletes on both teams will continue to be tested roughly once every two weeks in addition to the tests conducted by other entities including the UCI, cycling’s international governing body. Most of the riders on Columbia and Garmin have been in similar programs for the last two seasons and thus have baseline blood and hormonal profiles already constructed.

In the recent past, independent testing has focused on what is called longitudinal testing, or detecting deviations from an athlete’s normal biomarkers that might indicate use of banned substances or blood doping. The ADSI program will continue to collect blood samples to build profiles, but also will expand urine testing in order to focus on detection of new-generation blood boosters similar to erythropotein, or EPO.

One of those “EPO bio-similar,” CERA, infiltrated the peloton quickly this year. A test was developed almost as quickly, reducing the usual lag time between introduction of a new doping product and its detection. Garmin team director Jonathan Vaughters said his hope is that techniques developed in Catlin’s program will continue to erode the advantage cheaters have over testers — although he doesn’t expect his riders to provide Catlin with any material.

CERA had figured in the doping cases of four riders in this year’s Tour de France, including third-placer Bernhard Kohl. The Austrian cyclist also donned the polka dot jersey for this year’s best climber. Kohl was suspended for two years because of the doping infringement.

ADSI will also continue to test for “traditional” performance enhancers, i.e. testosterone, anabolic steroids, cortisone, and masking agents.

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New York Daily News has reviewed the doping calendars that were seized during the BALCO raids, as well as the recently released court transcripts of Shane Mosley’s grand jury testimony, and revealed the boxer had used performance-enhancing drugs in his preparation with his encounter against Oscar Dela Hoya in 2003. The court transcripts were formerly held at protective order until they were released by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston last Wednesday.

From Daily News:

Doping calendars seized in the BALCO raid show that champion boxer Shane Mosley scaled back his use of the notorious doping agent EPO in the two weeks before his Sept. 13 title fight with Oscar De La Hoya, as his blood grew unnaturally thick with oxygen-rich red blood cells.

That corresponds with previous reports that seized medical records showed Mosley’s hematocrit – a measure of red blood cells, and therefore endurance – shooting up 8.2% in just two weeks.

Hematocrit readings rarely fluctuate that much naturally, and usually linger in the low 40s for non-doping men. Anything over 50 will get an Olympic cyclist or marathon runner suspended from competition. Mosley jumped from 44 to 52.2 in two weeks as he prepared for the fight, according to a Sept. 28, 2007 report by Sports Illustrated.

In his testimony in 2003, Mosley admitted he used the blood booster EPO and anabolic steroids he bought from BALCO for $1850. He also admitted he had used the designer drugs referred to as “the cream” and “the clear”, but he insisted publicly and in his testimony that he didn’t know they were either illegal or banned.

Victor Conte, BALCO’s founder, however, said Mosley knew what he was taking.  Conte is being sued for defamation by Mosley.

Conte wrote said in a sworn statement submitted in the defamation case: “Specifically, I explained to Mr. Mosley and Mr. Hudson (Mosley’s trainer at the time) that ‘The Clear’ was an undetectable anabolic steroid and that ‘The Cream’ contained testosterone and epitestosterone. I explained that ‘The Cream’ was primarily to be used as a masking agent. I also explained that EPO increases the production of red blood cells, and therefore Mr. Mosley should take additional dietary supplements that aid in the manufacture of red blood cells, such as iron, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, and vitamin B12. … There is no question that I informed Mr. Mosley that he was taking the three banned performance enhancing drugs.”

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It may not be here, but it will be upon the world of sports in the near future. This is the general feeling among scientists, the media, and sports officials on gene doping.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has recognized the threat of this futuristic method, thus banning it in 2003. At the Beijing Olympics in August, there have been cases which garnered the scrutiny of WADA concerning the drug Repoxygen, a tradename for a type of gene therapy.

Now, a science journalist and a scientist in Switzerland acknowledge the imminent enticement of gene doping to 21st century athletes, displacing synthetic steroids and hormones sooner than later as means to boost athletic performance.

Professor Max Gassmann of Zurich University’s Institute of Veterinary Physiology has manipulated the erythropoietin (EPO) gene of mice to produce more oxygen carrying red blood cells – a process that could eventually be transferred to humans.

Gassmann does not think gene doping has infiltrated sport at the moment but believes some people may already be testing its potential, just as beneficial gene therapy is currently undergoing clinical trials.

“I can hardly imagine that we had a gene doping cheat winning at the Beijing Olympics,” he told swissinfo. “But there has been doping throughout history and if gene doping becomes viable then you cannot stop it, because people want to win.”

Author Beat Glogger has taken the theory a stage further by writing a thriller – “Run For My Life” – about genetically modified athletes. Glogger, also a science journalist, and Gassmann contributed to a Swiss sports ministry document warning about the risks of gene doping.

According to the same article, scientists have already identified more than 150 genes that can influence performance output, such as those that control muscle growth, muscle speed and the production of red blood cells.

Gene manipulation is still at its infancy, requiring more scientific research to ensure effective and safe administration. Athletes who submit themselves to gene doping now can suffer health risks and even death. In Gassmann’s study, genetically modified mice live only half as long as the untreated mice.

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This year’s Tour de France best climber Bernhard Kohl receives a two-year suspension from the Austrian anti-doping agency (NADA).

Kohl, who also finished third overall in this year’s race, had tested positive for the blood booster CERA, the latest version of exogenous erythropoietin aka EPO.

The 26-year-old rider met with NADA on Nov. 24 and his suspension was announced after the closed door meeting. Contrary to earlier speculation that he will fully cooperate with authorities and reveal his drug source, Kohl did not reveal his drug source.

“Bernhard is willing to cooperate and he will tell about how he got the substance and how and where he used it,” Kohl’s manager Stefan Matschiner stated prior to the meeting with NADA.

The chairman of NADA’s disciplinary committee, Gernot Schaar, said Kohl did not divulge any details on how he got the CERA, a new variant of erythropoietin aka EPO.

“He did not name any names of the men behind his doping use,” Schaar said. “That means there could be no doubt about the penalty.”

Kohl’s could have gotten a lesser penalty had he fully cooperated with authorities.

“I’ve made my statement and I’ve been honest,” Kohl said. “If it’s appreciated (by NADA), it will be a good sign for the sport.”

Kohl was disappointed that he still got the maximum penalty despite coming out clean with his admission.

“It’s a shame that I got the same penalty as someone who denies everything. This is the wrong way. I definitely made clear how I got it and what my reasons behind it were.”

Matschiner, who did not attend the meeting, also expressed his disappointment with the verdict.

“I really hoped his cooperative attitude would have lowered the penalty,” Matschiner was quoted as saying in an interview with Austrian media after the announcement of the ban.

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