Victor Conte, founder of Balco and architect of the biggest doping scandal in US sport, has died at the age of 75. His clients include Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. He served four months in prison, then attempted to rehabilitate himself as an anti-doping champion
AND died Monday at age 75 Victor Countthe architect of largest doping scandal in US sports history. The announcement came from Snac System, the sports nutrition company he foundedwithout, however, specifying the cause of death.
Balco and its customers
Italian-American, Conte was the founder and owner of Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative — known as Balco —, the Californian company that between late 1990s and early 2000s had provided doping substances undetectable to dozens of elite athletes. His clients included baseball stars come Barry bonds e Jason giambithe Olympic athletics champion Marion Jonesthe sprinter Tammy Thomas, Tim Montgomery, who ran the 100 meters in a 9.78 then cancelled and former NFL defensive end Dana Stubblefield.
How the investigation was born: steroids and growth hormones
The federal investigation into Balco began almost by accident, when an IRS agent found compromising documents rummaging through the garbage of the company. The investigations brought to light a Capillary distribution system of anabolic steroids — nicknamed “the cream” and “the clear” — e growth hormones. Conte was convicted in 2005 after pleading guilty to two of the 42 charges: he served four months in a minimum security prison, which he himself described as “a men’s retreat”.
Marion Jones, admissions and six months in prison
The scandal engulfed American sports. Marion Jones, after years of denials, admitted to having doped and lying to federal agents: she ended up in prison for six months and he had to return the five medals won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Baseball overwhelmed by the “Steroid Era” and the Bonds case
The case inspired the book «Game of Shadows» and prompted Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to appoint former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to lead an investigation into steroids in baseball. A real scandal overseas, which had less relevance in Europe but which was a serious stain on the Stars and Stripes “National pastime”.
The Mitchell Report called the use of performance-enhancing drugs “a serious threat to the integrity of the game” and spoke of a veritable “Age of Steroids.” Barry Bondyes, seven times National League MVP and record holder of all time with 762 career home runs — surpassing Hank Aaron’s 755 —, was the most illustrious name involved. His personal trainer Greg Anderson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months in prison. Bonds has always denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs, but he was never elected to the baseball Hall of Fame.
Conte then attempted to collaborate with Wada
Upon release from prison, Conte relaunched Snac System in 2007 — the dietary supplement company he had founded twenty years earlier — in the same building that once housed Balco in Burlingame, California. In the following years he attempted to rehabilitate his image by presenting himself as a “champion of anti-doping”, even going so far as to meet the president of the World Anti-Doping Agency Dick Pound. “The bad decisions of the past make me uniquely qualified to contribute to the fight against doping,” he said. The social media post announcing his death called him an “Anti-Doping Advocate.”
The normalizer among cheaters
But Conte always remained adamant about his central role in the scandal. In a 2010 interview he even tried to pass himself off as a normalizer: “Yes, athletes cheat to win, but government agents and prosecutors also cheat to win.” He claimed he had simply “leveled the playing field” in a world already full of cheaters.
