Tue, Apr 27, 2004 page20

• Doping is rife, and regularly covered up in US, star says

  • AFP
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  A nutritionist accused of giving professional athletes banned drugs gave steroids to track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery in exchange for their endorsements of his nutritional supplements, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Sunday.

  Meanwhile, Britain's 100m European champion Dwain Chambers would probably not have been exposed as a drugs cheat if he had been American, claimed world 100m champion Kim Collins, also on Sunday.

  Victor Conte, who heads the California-based BALCO laboratories which was the focus of a grand jury investigation in the US last year, told federal investigators that he gave the superstars banned anabolic steroids, the paper said.

  Conte's lawyer denied telling federal investigators the names of any athletes who received the banned drugs. Jones and Montgomery have both denied using steroids.

  Jones' attorney Joseph Burton told the Mercury News that the sprinter had no promotional connection to Conte.

  "Marion never had any agreement of any kind to endorse ZMA -- or any product for that matter -- of Victor Conte's or any of his businesses in any way," Burton told the newspaper.

  Unnamed sources involved in the case said that Conte told investigators that Jones and Montgomery had received a testosterone steroid and an undetectable steroid known as "the clear" in exchange for their endorsements of a legal supplement called ZMA.

  One of the sources said Greg Anderson -- weight trainer for US football star Barry Bonds -- claimed Bonds and Jones were using the same banned substances. Anderson has also been indicted over the doping claims.

  Jones, 28, who won gold medals at 100 meters, 200m and the 4x400m relay in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, has always denied any link with BALCO.

  The investigators were told that Conte's relationship with Jones ended one year after the Sydney games, the paper said.

  Montgomery holds the world record for the 100m dash. Investigators were told that he received the drugs before setting the record, the paper said.

  Both Jones and Montgomery have repeatedly tested negative for steroid use.

  At the Penn Relays athletics meeting on Saturday, Jones said she was sure that her name would be cleared as the BALCO case proceeded.

  "I'm going to let the judicial process do what it has to do," she said. "I'm confident my name will be clear in the near future."

  The 28-year-old St Kitts and Nevis sprint ace Kim Collins told the Mail on Sunday that American athletics authorities covered up when they discovered their athletes had failed drugs tests -- he did admit, however, that he would think of taking banned products himself if he was on a losing streak.

  Chambers is presently serving a two-year ban after testing positive for the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).

  "I don't know how it has been allowed to happen. The Americans have been involved in a lot of cover-ups," said Collins, who eschews weight training and taking vitamins and just keeps to a five-day training regime.

  "A lot of them have been caught but simply told not to do it again. Some of this comes out into the open and some of it does not.

  "What has happened to Dwain is unfair. There is clearly prejudice towards him, maybe because he is not American. If there are rules, they must be applied to everyone. As they are not, then Dwain should still be allowed to run," added Collins, who took the world title in Paris last August to add to the Commonwealth crown he won in 2002.
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