Victor Conte talked to 20/20 this past Friday

[dreamgirl]

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=297995&page=1

THis was really interesting... it also talked about how these athletes were continuously on aas, never cycling on and off... just wondered if anyone else watched.

[king]

I caught it about half way through, very interesting.

[BBAddict]

I'm shocked at all the athletes coming out that talk about using and sound like they had no idea how to cycle and prevent permanent damage to their bodies. I don't use and I think I know more than some of these guys who should be protecting their multi-million dollar bodies.

[lxorl]

didnt get to see it, but will read your article post in a minute.

[blm]

Originally posted by BBAddict
I know more than some of these guys who should be protecting their multi-million dollar bodies.

They don't get paid for their intelligence.

[7lok4]

I wonder what Conte's motivation is in naming all of these names now? Early on he was pretty tight lipped about this stuff. Since he was the distrubuter of the drugs it's hard to believe that he will get a deal based on naming his clients.

[house1]

he is a fucking scumbag --selling out all those that trusted him to save himself-
peace of shit he is -- sometimes when you fuck with peoples careers a bullet finds a home in your head-

he will be looking over his shoulder till one finally hits its mark

[7lok4]

I agree. A rat is a rat and Conte deserves what he gets. Although I doubt he will pay any physical price for his lack of backbone. His clients are too high profile to get into that game. I am still at a loss as to why he would do this. His statement that he wants to help clean up sports is laughable at best. Although it is starting to sound as though many of his clients talked during the grand jury hearings.

[buccaneer19]

his clients may be too high profile to do it themselves, but they sure do have the money to have someone wipe his ass out.

[ROCKETW19]

Originally posted by house1
he is a fucking scumbag --selling out all those that trusted him to save himself-
peace of shit he is -- sometimes when you fuck with peoples careers a bullet finds a home in your head-

he will be looking over his shoulder till one finally hits its mark

i couldnt have said that any better

[7lok4]

Originally posted by buccaneer19
his clients may be too high profile to do it themselves, but they sure do have the money to have someone wipe his ass out.

Look how many of his clients sang like birds during the investigation and they were not even looking at charges. You think they would have the stomach to go through questioning if Conte got clipped? It wont happen.

[Mr incredible]

I can see why people here are angry at him but I think he inadvertantley done physical sports a favour.

I for one am sick of all this bullshit about 'oh he got tested positive so he's a bad person' its crap, they are all using drugs to improve their performance and so would I. The atitude that one athelete is more worthy than another because they havn't tested positive is all wrong, its just means they beat the test.

In a 100m final I think every competitor has or is using and in an environment where synthetic growth hormone simply cannot be detected then whats the point of all this testing anyway?

It all a big false pretence to keep the viewers happy, the use of stimulants and other drugs to improve performance has been there since the original olympic games and before then by the gladiators. No one cared then, why now?

Its peoples attitudes that need changing, your not gonna wipe out drug use and Conte has just blown it all wide open and it will hopefully shock many people into adjusting their thoughts when watching the olympics and other sports.

I would certainly see a final where people are running the 100m in sub 10 seconds (chemically assisted), as oppposed to 11 seconds natural, same goes for other sports, its individuals doing their best to be the best and yes they are using AAS and other compounds in their persute of victory, so what?

But please don't give us this shit ' oh well all atheletes are drug tested so be assured that the competition is clean', because I don't buy it for a minute!

[7lok4]

It all comes down to $$$. Money is the reason MLB has dragged it's feet to confront the issue. A juiced up Barry Bonds fills ball parks. Knowing that the 100m record could be broken at any time ups the viewers of the Olympics. The more 320lb. men with feet like dancers the NFL has the more exciting the game is and the more money NFL Inc. makes. I don't know how many poeple would admit it but I would guys that most people who watch these sports religiously would rather tollerate the alleged drug use than see a huge, over-night drop in the level of performance by the athletes. As Mr. Incredible said, it has a lot to do with the attitude of the public. Bigger, stronger, faster sells and we are buying.

[Jarconis]

that dude isnt dead yet?

[Mr incredible]

The reality is that it will blow over after a while and the uneducated spectators will carry on watching athletics, popcorn in hand with the same blissful ignorance as ever, cheering on the competitors and telling there kids 'hey that could be you one day son'!

Not without drugs it won't.

Remember Tour de France, all those cyclists team members got found out and they found EPO and growth hormone amongst other drugs in their team car, and they were just cyclists for goodness sake!

Oh well

[Shibby]

I see the problem as keeping them looking like role models, and childhood hero's. Where does all the money come from? Fans. No one will buy merchandise representing the people they don't like.
As kids grow up with there parents telling them all these things are bad, the kids will think so and so is a bad person. This works in keeping kids from doing the wrong things, espeacially at a young age. It's like the tobacco companies, they advertise to a target audience of 16-26 or something like that. Those are the people that are most likely to spend the most money and the younger you get them intersted, the more money that will come in long term. No it's not a big deal that these athletes are using AS, but it is bad as they are representing a future that kids want.

*I hope this makes sense, my thoughts were very scattered*

[Mr incredible]

If AAS were legalised/decriminalised, it wouldn't be an issue would it?

Thats not to say I am advocating the use of AAS, thats for each individual to decide for themselves. Its just that as I said in my earlier response to this thread, the use of performance enhancing substances is nothing new and its only drawn people attention since they banned their use and made them illegal.

If you look at it then from an ethical point of view, taking AAS would not really be any different from taking vitamins, adjusting your diet to improve performance.

In a book I read by human kinetics, they stated that stimulants such as cocaine, arsenic etc were used by olympians long ago to improve performance. AAS were developed as early as 1954 and were in use by East German athetetes long before they were banned.

Arnie in an interview on the 25 Aniversary of pumping iron DVD openly admits the use of steroids during his bodybuilding carrier, and says "well of course we used them, they wern't illegal"

To my mind top flight atheletes are likely to be using AAS, particularly in the fast twitch explosive sports, they just rarely get caught. And many legendarl atheletes may well have used and retired with no-one ever knowing apart from their coach or physician. The real sadness out of this is for the atheletes that get caught, they are demonised by the media and their carrears are either over there and then or go on without credit. Look at Ben Johnson, tested positive for stanazolol, that was the end of a fantastic athelete, who may well have gone on to smash more 100m records.

It pains me to see interviews with atheletes when they are asked "have you ever taken AAS?", they then are put in a position where they are forced to lie or its career over.

I know this is a bit of an unrealistic hypothesis "what if they legalised the use of AAS?" but my point is that we are only in this farcical situation because they criminalised AAS use and banned it from events.

Conte admission is a slap in the face of the Olympic Comittee, it makes them look powerless, and this is only happening because they began testing in the first place.

Just my 2 pennies worth

[Turbo3000]

I don't care if everyone uses it. Everything in sports has imporved since they started, equipment (bats, balls, clubs, training, everything). A player making himself better is no different.

Bush wants steriods to be eradicated, yet he is going to ban all prohormones. That will equal to more people going the illegal way. This country is so backwards.

[Klash]

Originally posted by 7lok4
I wonder what Conte's motivation is in naming all of these names now? Early on he was pretty tight lipped about this stuff. Since he was the distrubuter of the drugs it's hard to believe that he will get a deal based on naming his clients.

I wondered the same thing but after hearing that Conte said they ought to make him head of the World Anti-Doping Agency - I came to the conclusion that he's an attention whore who sells out to any opportunity that presents itself, I won't be surprised if he comes out with a book after the investigation.

[w8liftinglady]

Originally posted by Turbo3000
I don't care if everyone uses it. Everything in sports has imporved since they started, equipment (bats, balls, clubs, training, everything). A player making himself better is no different.

Bush wants steriods to be eradicated, yet he is going to ban all prohormones. That will equal to more people going the illegal way. This country is so backwards.

I couldn't agree more.This country has lost the real "war on drugs"I know,because I'm an ER nurse and see that wasted shit every day....so,instead of doing what they should have done long ago-decriminalized and regulated drugs,they simply chose a new,more easily manipulated group of patsies-namely athletes.Making steroids the enemy allows them to avoid the real problems.I have never in my 20 years as an ER nurse seen a steroid induced life threatening illness

[7lok4]

Originally posted by w8liftinglady
I couldn't agree more.This country has lost the real "war on drugs"I know,because I'm an ER nurse and see that wasted shit every day....so,instead of doing what they should have done long ago-decriminalized and regulated drugs,they simply chose a new,more easily manipulated group of patsies-namely athletes.Making steroids the enemy allows them to avoid the real problems.I have never in my 20 years as an ER nurse seen a steroid induced life threatening illness

That is a great point you make abouty shifting the focus from rec drugs to AAS. Unfortunately the "war on drugs" is a billion dollar business for a small group of people so doubt it will be over any time soon.