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Victor Conte, the former mastermind at the center the infamous BALCO steroid scandal, is back in the news again. With the recent doping scandals involving Russia and the approaching 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, journalists have started contacting Conte for his insight on the topic. Conte still has a lot to say and isn't afraid to piss people off.
Sam Brock, of the NBC Bay Area television news affiliate, asked Conte what he thought about the problem of doping at the 2016 Rio Olympics. While the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) would like everyone to think they have it under control and are making a major impact towards “clean sports”, Conte isn't convinced at all.
“I’ve said this before, the Olympic Games is a fraud,” Conte said. “It’s promoted as a fair competition among the nations of the world. What’s fair about these rules when it enables, harbors and promotes the use of drugs?”
Such a statement will certainly upset officials at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and particularly those anti-doping crusaders at WADA and USADA. This doesn't surprise Conte given that he publicly embarrassed those agencies when he helped athletes get away with doping by providing undetectable anabolic steroids and methods that rendered anti-dopers powerless to stop it.
“I’m one of the few that’s been on both sides,” Conte said. “I understand the way it works. Put it this way, for four years I was tap-dancing on the forehead of USADA, WADA, and everybody else, and no one got a positive test.”
Ben Nichols, a spokesperson for WADA, disagreed with Conte's characterization of the Olympics as a steroid-promoting fraud. Nichols insisted that WADA has “good procedures in place”. It's just a matter of getting all of the national anti-doping organizations – like Russia, Mexico, Spain and other non-compliant countries – to faithfully stick to the plan.
“It’s one thing to have good procedures in place,” he said. “It’s quite another for everyone to really focus on doing them well. That’s where we’re at is we need people to really up their game worldwide.”
Conte doesn't have much faith in WADA's ability to control its NADO's and achieve its goal of “clean sport”. As an example, he points to the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission's (JADCO) failure to test any of its Olympic athletes, and most notably 100-meter gold medalist Usain Bolt, for 5-6 months prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. This is the most critical period of an athlete's preparation.
“They do intensive weight training, and they build a strength and power and speed base that carries all the way over until when they step into the one hundred meter final in the blocks at the Olympic Games,” Conte said.
WADA doesn't have a good track record and Conte believes past performance represents a good guide to what will happen in the future. But Conte doesn't blame the athletes. This is what (most) competitors do.
“These athletes simply do what they have to do in order to be competitive,” Conte said. “And I don’t want to say that everybody’s doing it, because I don’t believe that, but I think it’s the overwhelming majority.”
Sam Brock, of the NBC Bay Area television news affiliate, asked Conte what he thought about the problem of doping at the 2016 Rio Olympics. While the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) would like everyone to think they have it under control and are making a major impact towards “clean sports”, Conte isn't convinced at all.
“I’ve said this before, the Olympic Games is a fraud,” Conte said. “It’s promoted as a fair competition among the nations of the world. What’s fair about these rules when it enables, harbors and promotes the use of drugs?”
Such a statement will certainly upset officials at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and particularly those anti-doping crusaders at WADA and USADA. This doesn't surprise Conte given that he publicly embarrassed those agencies when he helped athletes get away with doping by providing undetectable anabolic steroids and methods that rendered anti-dopers powerless to stop it.
“I’m one of the few that’s been on both sides,” Conte said. “I understand the way it works. Put it this way, for four years I was tap-dancing on the forehead of USADA, WADA, and everybody else, and no one got a positive test.”
Ben Nichols, a spokesperson for WADA, disagreed with Conte's characterization of the Olympics as a steroid-promoting fraud. Nichols insisted that WADA has “good procedures in place”. It's just a matter of getting all of the national anti-doping organizations – like Russia, Mexico, Spain and other non-compliant countries – to faithfully stick to the plan.
“It’s one thing to have good procedures in place,” he said. “It’s quite another for everyone to really focus on doing them well. That’s where we’re at is we need people to really up their game worldwide.”
Conte doesn't have much faith in WADA's ability to control its NADO's and achieve its goal of “clean sport”. As an example, he points to the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission's (JADCO) failure to test any of its Olympic athletes, and most notably 100-meter gold medalist Usain Bolt, for 5-6 months prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. This is the most critical period of an athlete's preparation.
“They do intensive weight training, and they build a strength and power and speed base that carries all the way over until when they step into the one hundred meter final in the blocks at the Olympic Games,” Conte said.
WADA doesn't have a good track record and Conte believes past performance represents a good guide to what will happen in the future. But Conte doesn't blame the athletes. This is what (most) competitors do.
“These athletes simply do what they have to do in order to be competitive,” Conte said. “And I don’t want to say that everybody’s doing it, because I don’t believe that, but I think it’s the overwhelming majority.”
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