Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou have received suspended sentences of 31 months.

The retired sprinters guilty of making false statements about an alleged motorcycle accident they had cited as the reason for missing drugs tests on the eve of the 2004 Olympics in the Greek capital.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

Kenteris, who emerged from obscurity to win the Olympic 200m title ahead of Britain’s Darren Campbell in 2000, and Thanou, who took the women’s 100m silver medal behind Marion Jones at those Sydney Games, were both suspended on the eve of their home Olympics after they disappeared when an International Olympic Committee anti-doping team turned up to test them.

On the day Kenteris and Thanou left hospital, police raided the premises of their coach and discovered 30 boxes of anabolic steroids and 1400 boxes of supplements containing the banned stimulant ephedrine.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Marion Jones, supplements

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On behalf of the U.S. State Department, former track star Marion Jones is making a series of diplomatic visits to Serbia and Croatia.

Jones, once considered the fastest woman in the world, give back her five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics after lying to federal investigators about taking performance enhancing drugs.

From Espn.go.com:

Since getting out of jail, she started a career in the WNBA — playing a season and a half for the Tulsa Shock — and has started a campaign to encourage others to think before making critical decisions.

This week, Jones is visiting with school children and other citizens in Serbia and Croatia, the former Yugoslav republics hit by war and earthquake in recent years.

“It paints a very positive picture of who we are as a country and the fact that she’s here on the invitation of the United States government shows that our country believes in people always having opportunities to come back from adversity,” said Ryan Rowlands, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade who helped arrange Jones’ visit. “So that’s been a great part of this message.”

“I think that this country is in the process of rebuilding,” she said. “My story is one that I am also rebuilding from making some bad choices in the past, so I think that was one of the main reasons that I was chosen because I have decided to not give up in my quest to help people.”

Tags: Marion Jones, Performance enhancing drugs, Sydney Olympics, WNBA

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On Wednesday, Mexican fighter Juan Manuel Marquez defended himself as doping clouds arose after his strength coach was revealed to be among those involved in a major doping scandal that stung US athletics.

“Whatever doping they want to do – blood, Olympian – whatever they want to do, I’ll do it, as long as he does it too,” Marquez said through a translator.

From Sport24.co.za:

Victor Conte, whose BALCO products were at the centre of a major doping scandal, revealed in a Twitter posting on Monday that Marquez’s strength and conditioning coach was Angel Heredia, who testified in a doping investigation.

Heredia admitted providing banned performance-enhancing substances to Trevor Graham, former coach of disgraced former stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery among others.

Alex Ariza, Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, commented about Marquez looking bigger and stronger as well. Together with Heredia’s past links to doping, Marquez found himself on the defensive about his fit physique.

“It’s a shame all the work I’ve done has been trashed by these guys, Conte and Ariza,” Marquez said.

Tags: athletics, BALCO, conditioning coach, doping, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Trevor Graham, Victor Conte

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Angel “Memo” Hernandez, the strength and conditioning coach of Juan Manuel Marquez, recently threatened to sue Alex Ariza, his counterpart in the camp of Manny Pacquiao.

“I would like to say through this medium and the public that logically, we are preparing a lawsuit for defamation against Mr. Alex Ariza,” Hernandez said, his words translated from Spanish.

From Boxingforum.com:

While it is unclear exactly which of Ariza’s comments have sparked Hernandez’ statements, Hernandez has come under scrutiny lately after former BALCO chief Victor Conte revealed through his Twitter account on Monday that Hernandez is the former Angel Heredia.

As the government’s star witness in the infamous BALCO doping cases, Heredia testified before a San Francisco court in May of 2008 that he had sold banned substances—namely EPO, growth hormone and steroids—to Olympic sprinters like Marion Jones.

Conte ended up serving four months in prison for his role in orchestrating the steroid distribution scandal.

However, Hernandez’ ire was not directed at Conte, but rather at Ariza and Pacquiao, the latter of whom will fight Marquez on Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“On his behalf, the declarations he has made are very direct. I think they’re very prejudicial not just with respect toward the image of Juan Manuel Marquez, but for mine as his physical trainer,” Hernandez said.

Tags: BALCO, conditioning coach, EPO, growth hormone, Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao, Marion Jones, steroid, steroids

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Bob Arum, top rank chief executive officer, defended world lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez for hiring nutritionist Angel Hernandez, who has admitted to being a steroid dealer in the past.

Hernandez admitted in May 2008 to a San Francisco court that he sold performance enhancing drugs to track stars, including former Olympian Marion Jones.

From Abs-cbnnews.com:

In a conference call with RingTV and other boxing media, Arum said Hernandez and other strength and conditioning coaches have learned their lesson and are now using only legal supplements.

“There was a period of time when people like Victor Conte, and like this guy, Hernandez, dealt in steroids with some major athletes. But that’s old, old news in this sense,” Arum said.

Conte is the nutritionist for world bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, and has spent time in prison for supplying illegal performance-enhancing substances to athletes.

“Most of the intelligent conditioners, like Conte, if you read what he was saying when he was handling Donaire, and this guy (Hernandez) who is now with Marquez, they know that you can achieve all of the benefits you used to achieve with steroids with natural supplements,” Arum said.

“The steroid problem is fading into the past,” Arum said.

Tags: Juan Manuel Marquez, legal supplements, lightweight champion, Marion Jones, natural supplements, Performance enhancing drugs, steroid, steroids

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The World lightweight champion, Juan Manuel Marquez, is defending his new strength and conditioning coach, Angel Hernandez, after reports came out revealing Hernandez’ shady past.

Hernandez was known as Angel Heredia and supplied performance enhancing drugs to Olympians, including Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

From Abs-cbnnews.com:

In a conference call with RingTV and other boxing media, Marquez defended Hernandez and said he has no knowledge of his new nutritionist’s dealings with steroids.

“I didn’t find out any of this other stuff until it was written over the last couple of days. It was big news to me,” Marquez said.

“I just knew that he had trained a lot of elite and world class athletes before I met him. We talked about what we needed to do. I was very happy with what he told me that I needed to do,” Marquez said, adding that Hernandez has been “a very professional guy.”

“If they want to do whatever doping or drug testing they want to do, Olympic-style, or whatever they want to do, I’ll do it. I’m prepared,” Marquez said.

Tags: lightweight champion, Marion Jones, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids, Tim Montgomery

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Antonio Pettigrew, a gold medalist in Olympic 4x400m relay, has entered into the disgrace zone by admitting that he took performance enhancing drugs.

Pettigrew is presently working in the capacity of an assistant track coach at the University of North Carolina. He never tested positive during his career in which he conquered World Championship gold over 400m in 1991 and world relay gold in 1997, 1999, and 2001.

From Espnstar.com:

Heredia, a former Mexican discus champion and confessed distributor of performance-enhancing drugs on Wednesday testified, however, that Pettigrew had received banned substances from him between 1997 and 2001.

Pettigrew confirmed this was correct when he testified on Thursday, saying that he had been encouraged by Graham to talk with Heredia before purchasing human growth hormone and Erythropoietin (EPO) from the Mexican.

Graham has pleaded not guilty to three counts of lying to federal agents investigating the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs during interviews with them in 2004.

Pettigrew, 40, is one of a number of former athletes who trained under Graham, also including fellow American Olympic gold medalists Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Dennis Mitchell and Jerome Young.

He was called to testify before United States District Judge Susan Illston on Thursday having been implicated by main government witness at the trial, Angel ‘Memo’ Heredia, who has alleged Pettigrew and others received banned, performance-enhancing drugs from him through Graham.

Heredia recalled an incident during prosecution testimony in which Graham asked him to send by overnight mail a cocktail of EPO, human growth hormone, and insulin for the disgraced Marion Jones.

Tags: Antonio Pettigrew, Dennis Mitchell, EPO, erythropoietin, human growth hormone, Jerome Young, Marion Jones, Performance enhancing drugs, Tim Montgomery

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Victor Conte, the founder of the designer drugs pharmacy BALCO, has revealed that Marion Jones, the greatest female athlete of her generation, was provided with insulin, growth hormone, EPO, and ‘The Clear’ (users’ slang for THG) as well as nutritional supplements.

Conte also said Jones was on a cocktail of drugs including insulin, growth hormone, EPO, and THG when she won three gold medals and two bronze at the Sydney Olympics.

From Independent.ie:

“People have asked me: ‘Do you feel guilty about what you did? Are you ashamed?’ The answer is no. I got to a point where I realised elite sport is about doing what you have to do to win. My clients didn’t come to BALCO to learn how to do drugs. Most were already using (drugs) before they came.

“I’ve seen athletes being forced to decide whether to use or not use, and it’s much more painful for them to entertain the idea of giving up their dream than to use anabolic steroids. That’s what’s really going on. That’s the choice athletes face when they get to the very top.”

Conte’s interview contains extraordinary detail about Jones and the drugs regime that he oversaw, beginning with the build-up to the Sydney Olympics.

“CJ (Hunter, the shot-putter and her husband at the time) had called me six weeks before the Olympics to ask me to work with Marion,” he says. “I started providing her with insulin, growth hormone, EPO and ‘The Clear’ (users’ slang for THG) as well as nutritional supplements. She was on all of it at the 2000 Games. I tell you this knowing Marion passed a lie-detector test saying it’s not true. All that shows me is lie detectors don’t work.”

Conte also said, “Soon I was working with their (Jones and Montgomery’s) rivals,” he says. It is here that Dwain Chambers, of Great Britain, enters the story, another who, despite being banned, continues to profess his innocence. Conte says he gave Chambers “the full enchilada”: ‘The Clear,’ insulin, EPO, growth hormone, modafinil and a testosterone cream.

Tags: BALCO, EPO, growth hormone, insulin, Marion Jones, modafinil, nutritional supplements, testosterone cream, THG, Victor Conte

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Olympic 4x400m relay gold medalist, Antonio Pettigrew, recently admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.

Pettigrew is presently an assistant track coach at the University of North Carolina. He never tested positive during a track career that also earned him World Championship gold over 400m in 1991 and world relay gold in 1997, 1999, and 2001.

From Espnstar.com:

Heredia, a former Mexican discus champion and confessed distributor of performance-enhancing drugs on Wednesday testified, however, that Pettigrew had received banned substances from him between 1997 and 2001.

Pettigrew confirmed this was correct when he testified on Thursday, saying that he had been encouraged by Graham to talk with Heredia before purchasing human growth hormone and Erythropoietin (EPO) from the Mexican.

Graham has pleaded not guilty to three counts of lying to federal agents investigating the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs during interviews with them in 2004.

Pettigrew, 40, is one of a number of former athletes who trained under Graham, also including fellow American Olympic gold medalists Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Dennis Mitchell and Jerome Young.

He was called to testify before United States District Judge Susan Illston on Thursday having been implicated by main government witness at the trial, Angel ‘Memo’ Heredia, who has alleged Pettigrew and others received banned, performance-enhancing drugs from him through Graham.

During three hours of testimony for the prosecution, Heredia recalled one instance when Graham asked him to send by overnight mail a cocktail of EPO, human growth hormone, and insulin for Marion Jones.

Tags: Antonio Pettigrew, Dennis Mitchell, EPO, erythropoietin, human growth hormone, Jerome Young, Marion Jones, Performance enhancing drugs, Tim Montgomery

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The triple Olympics champion in 2000, Marion Jones, who is yet to recover from accusations of drug use, faced another crisis of her life after a positive test for erythropoietin taken at the US championships in Indianapolis.

Jones faces a two-year ban from athletics if the B sample confirms the A sample as revealed in the test conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

From Guardian.co.uk:

In 1999 Jones’s then husband, the world shot-put champion CJ Hunter, tested positive for record levels of the anabolic steroid nandralone which forced him to withdraw from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where she won both sprints and a third gold in the 4x400m relay as well as bronze medals in the short relay and long jump.

After he was banned for two years Jones left him and started a relationship with Tim Montgomery, who like her was coached by the Jamaican-born Trevor Graham. Montgomery set a world record for the 100m of 9.78 sec at Paris in 2002, a mark subsequently annulled after he was banned for two years in December due to evidence given in a federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (Balco) in San Francisco.

A number of witnesses involved in the case claimed Jones, a former basketball player, was involved in taking banned performance-enhancing drugs. She has always denied the allegation.

The American sprinter left the hotel where the athletes were staying at 6am, reportedly “for personal reasons”.

Tags: anabolic steroid, BALCO, erythropoietin, Marion Jones, Nandralone

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