Baseball sluggers Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, boxer Shane Mosley and Oakland Raiders teammates Bill Romanowski and Barret Robbins were among the latest athletes to appear before a grand jury probing a nutritional supplements lab.
Also appearing Thursday was Jeremy Giambi, the younger brother of Jason.
"It went good," Jason Giambi said as the brothers left the grand jury room, accompanied by agent Arn Tellem. "I can't really talk about it."
Sheffield, who is trying to work out a free agent contract with the New York Yankees, said his appearance went "all right" and flashed a thumbs-up sign as he entered an elevator near the grand jury room.
Jason Giambi plays for the Yankees. Jeremy Giambi played for the Boston Red Sox last season and is now a free agent.
Mosley's attorney, Judd Burstein, said the boxer testified "because the government wanted some information from him, and he was happy to provide it."
Federal investigators had asked for a sample of Mosley's urine taken after his Sept. 13 win over Oscar De La Hoya, a fight that took place in Las Vegas.
But Nevada Deputy Attorney-General Keith Kizer said in October that the sample already had been discarded by the lab.
Burstein said in October that Mosley passed all drug and steroid tests performed after that fight. Burstein also said at that time that Mosley had used nutritional supplements from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.
Romanowski and Robbins were among four Raiders notified by the NFL last month that they failed tests for THG, a source close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity. The steroid was undetectable in drug tests until this summer.
Disappearance
Robbins, who has been diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder and alcoholism, disappeared from the team on the eve of the Raiders' 48-21 loss to Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl last season.
Neither Romanowski nor Robbins commented after his grand jury appearance. Romanowski also did not comment when asked whether he had used steroids, or whether he had used THG.
Athletes from five sports -- football, baseball, swimming, boxing, and track and field -- have appeared before the grand jury. The group includes baseball's Barry Bonds; track star Marion Jones and her boyfriend, 100-meter world record-holder Tim Montgomery; seven NFL players, and Olympic champion swimmer Amy Van Dyken.
An appearance before the grand jury, or being subpoenaed to testify, does not mean an athlete is a target of the investigation -- which is focusing on possible drug and tax violations by BALCO.
BALCO also has been accused of supplying athletes with THG.
The only two people identified so far as targets of the federal grand jury are BALCO founder Victor Conte and Greg Anderson, a personal trainer for Bonds and other athletes.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but