BALCO head says fun prompted steroid ring
By Adam Tanner
Guardian Unlimited
March 21, 2007
BURLINGAME, Calif., March 21 (Reuters) - The man at
the center of the BALCO steroid scandal says
excitement rather than money motivated him to
distribute performance-enhancing drugs to top athletes
and advise them on how to evade detection.
Released from federal prison last year, Victor Conte
was one of the world's best-known steroid suppliers,
with behind-the-scenes insight about the doping that
has plagued track and field, football, baseball and
other sports.
"It had nothing to do with money," said Conte, owner
of the defunct BALCO lab.
"I was simply having a lot of fun. It was exciting to
be in the trenches, to be at these world championships
and Olympics and Super Bowls and travel all over the
world," he said in an interview with Reuters on
Tuesday.
"Some people may view this as being reckless and
taking enormous risks, but it was very exciting, it
was very fun."
The self-educated Conte, a former professional
bassist, created BALCO in 1984 to provide nutritional
advice and testing.
By the time prosecutors indicted Conte in 2004,
baseball slugger Barry Bonds, track and field star
Marion Jones and other top clients saw their
reputations badly tarnished. Some such as Tim
Montgomery, once the world's fastest man, have since
been banned from competing.
Conte, 56, said he operated his BALCO lab for 15 years
before beginning to deal in steroids, although he says
he started using them personally in 1996.
"I made the decision to go down the slippery slope at
some point in 1999," he said. "Finally I got to a
point where I basically realized that these athletes
didn't have a choice."
"I knew there were tremendous risks with it, but it
had to do with looking out for the safety of the
people that you work with. And knowing that they are
going to do it with or without your assistance --
only, without your assistance, they are going to buy
it down a dark alley out of the trunk of a car behind
a gym somewhere."
STEROIDS, IN MODERATION
A gregarious raconteur, Conte said he told his clients
to use the drugs in moderation according to a
regimented plan.
He said he advised taking steroids he dubbed the
"Clear" -- the previously undetectable THG -- and the
"Cream" on alternate days Monday through Thursday
before taking three days off, following a bigger
pattern of three weeks on, one week off.
"Athletes have families and children and people that
care about them, so believe it or not, they're not all
as reckless as some may think," he said.
Conte said he obtained seven performance-enhancing
substances from a network of different people,
including a Hollywood doctor whose clients include
film celebrities.
Today, Conte has resumed work at the former BALCO
headquarters, now named after his nutritional
supplement company, SNAC.
His walls are lined with photographs and memorabilia
signed by athletes such as Bonds, the single-season
home run record holder to whom Conte said he never
provided steroids, and Marion Jones, whom he said he
once saw inject steroids.
Both athletes deny using steroids.
Conte said he earned most of his income from selling a
legal zinc supplement called ZMA, which he still sells
for - judging by the Bentley he points to outside - a
handsome profit.
Conte said steroids remain widespread in professional
sports and he favors legalizing steroid use under
close medical supervision.
"Does an athlete who goes to a doctor, who trains
intensely, who is tested and found to be low in
testosterone ... should they be allowed to have normal
amounts of these anabolic hormones in their system? I
think that they should," he said.
Conte remains outspoken about steroids but now says
his actions had negative consequences.
"Did I know there were risks attached? Absolutely. Did
I make choices that maybe I shouldn't have made? Yes,
I probably did," he said.
"Would I do some of the things that I did over again
if I had the opportunity differently? The answer is
yes because of what I've learned about the effect upon
my family."
