Drug cheats at the highest sporting level

[huw williams]

I've been doing a lot of (ahem) work in this area recently (stop sniggering at the back there) and re-discovered the letter that Victor Conte sent to Dwain Chambers when the british sprinter decided to go before UK athletics promising to help them in the future fight against drug cheats.

It's a fascinating read in respect of:
A) The sheer volume of different drugs that Chambers was taking
B) The apparent ease with which the testers could be evaded by exploiting the 'three strikes and out' rule.
C) Conte's clear inference that right up to the highest level, national sporting federations and testing facilities (including USADA and WADA) are following a testing protocol which is nowhere near stringent enough to nail offenders
D) How apparently easy to cheat it is at Olympic level and get away with it (remember that Chambers and Conte's other Balco charges who won olympic medals never actually tested positive, they were 'shopped').

Anyway here's Conte's letter to chambers for those who didn't see it at the time

Dear Dwain,
Per your request, this letter is to confirm I am willing to assist you in providing UK Sport and others with information that will help them to improve the effectiveness of their anti-doping programs. The specific details regarding how you were able to circumvent the British and IAAF anti-doping tests for an extended period of time are provided below.

Your performance enhancing drug program included the following seven prohibited substances: THG, testosterone/epitestosterone cream, EPO (Procrit), HGH (Serostim), insulin (Humalog), modafinil (Provigil) and liothryonine, which is a synthetic form of the T3 thyroid hormone (Cytomel).
THG is a previously undetectable designer steroid nicknamed "the clear." It was primarily used in the off season and was taken two days per week, typically on Mondays and Wednesdays. Generally, these were the two most intense weight-training days of the week. The purpose was to accelerate healing and tissue repair. Thirty units (IU) of the liquid was place under the tongue during the morning time-frame. THG was used in cycles of "three weeks on and one week off."

Testosterone/epitestosterone cream was also primarily used during the off season. It was rubbed into the skin on the front of the forearm two days per week, typically Tuesdays and Thursdays. The dosage was ½ gram which contained 50mg of testosterone and 2.5mg of epitestosterone (20 to 1 ratio). The purpose was to offset the suppression of endogenous testosterone caused by the use of the THG and to accelerate recovery. The testosterone/epitestosterone cream was also used in cycles of three weeks on and one week off.
EPO was used three days per week during the "corrective phase", which is the first two weeks of a cycle. Typically, it was on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It was only used once per week during the "maintenance phase" thereafter, typically this was every Wednesday. The dosage was 4,000 IU per injection. The purpose was to increase the red blood cell count and enhance oxygen uptake and utilization. This substance provides a big advantage to sprinters because it enables them to do more track repetitions and obtain a much deeper training load during the off season. EPO becomes undetectable about 72 hours after subcutaneous injection (stomach) and only 24 hours after intravenous injection.
HGH was used three nights per week, typically on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Each injection would contain 4.5 units of growth hormone. Once again, this substance was used primarily during the off season to help with recovery from very strenuous weight training sessions.

Insulin was used after strenuous weight training sessions during the off season. Three units of Humalog (fast-acting insulin) were injected immediately after the workout sessions together with a powdered drink that contained 30 grams of dextrose, 30 grams of whey protein isolates and 3 grams of creatine. The purpose was to quickly replenish glycogen, resynthesize ATP and promote protein synthesis and muscle growth. Insulin acts as a "shuttle system" in the transport of glucose and branch chain amino acids. There is no test available for insulin at this time.

Modafinil was used as a "wakefulness promoting" agent before competitions. The purpose was to decrease fatigue and enhance mental alertness and reaction time. A 200mg tablet was consumed one hour before competition.

Liothryonine was used help accelerate the basic metabolic rate before competitions. The purpose was to reduce sluggishness and increase quickness. Two 25mg tablets were taken one hour before competition. There is no test available for liothryonine at this time.

In general terms, explosive strength athletes, such as sprinters, use anabolic steroids, growth hormone, insulin and EPO during the off season. They use these drugs in conjunction with an intense weight training program, which helps to develop a strength base that will serve them throughout the competitive season. Speed work is done just prior to the start of the competitive season.

It is important to understand it is not really necessary for athletes to have access to designer anabolic steroids such as THG. They can simply use fast-acting testosterone (oral as well as creams and gels) and still easily avoid the testers. For example, oral testosterone will clear the system in less than a week and testosterone creams and gels will clear even faster.

Many drug-tested athletes use what I call the "duck and dodge" technique. Several journalists in the UK have recently referred to it as the "duck and dive" technique. This is basically how it works.

First, the athlete repeatedly calls their own cell phone until the message capacity is full. This way the athlete can claim to the testers that they didn't get a message when they finally decide to make themselves available. Secondly, they provide incorrect information on their whereabouts form. They say they are going to one place and then go to another. Thereafter, they start using testosterone, growth hormone and other drugs for a short cycle of two to three weeks.

After the athlete discontinues using the drugs for a few days and they know that they will test clean, they become available and resume training at their regular facility.
Most athletes are tested approximately two times each year on a random out-of -competition basis. If a tester shows up and the athlete is not where they are supposed to be, then the athlete will receive a "missed test". This is the equivalent to receiving "strike one" when up to bat in a baseball game. The current anti-doping rules allow an athlete to have two missed tests in any given eighteen-month period without a penalty or consequence. So, the disadvantage for an athlete having a missed test is that they have one strike against them. The advantage of that missed test is the athlete has now received the benefit of a cycle of steroids. Long story short, an athlete can continue to duck and dive until they have two missed tests, which basically means that they can continue to use drugs until that time.

In summary, it's my opinion that more than fifty percent of the drug tests performed each year should be during the off season or the fourth quarter. This is when the track athletes are duckin' and divin' and using anabolic steroids and other drugs. Let me provide some rather startling information for your consideration. If you check the testing statistics on the USADA website, you will find that the number of out-of-competition drug tests performed during each quarter of 2007 are as follows: in the first quarter there were 1208, second quarter 1295, third quarter 1141 and in the fourth quarter there were only 642.
In late 2003 I advised USADA about the importance of random testing during the fourth quarter of the year. They did initially seem to follow my advice because they increased the number of fourth-quarter tests in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
However, they failed to continue this practice in 2007. Why would USADA decide to perform only 15% of their annual out-of-competition tests during the fourth quarter? Let's not forget that this is the off season before the upcoming summer Olympic Games. This is equivalent to a fisherman knowing that the fish are ready to bite and then consciously deciding that it is time to reel in his line and hook, lean his fishing pole up against a tree and take a nap.

On several occasions, I have provided detailed information to both USADA and WADA in an attempt to help them establish more effective testing policies and procedures.
I certainly have more information that I would like the opportunity to provide to you and UK Sport, but I will leave that for another time. Hopefully, this information will be helpful and I am available to assist you further upon request.
Yours sincerely,
Victor Conte

[Dombo]

still none the wiser as to what to take to win at Hillingdon next year - a pack of cherry Tunes and a tub of Ralgex rubbed into my bottom didn't seem to cut it

[Andrew G]

[quote="Dombo"]still none the wiser as to what to take to win at Hillingdon next year - a pack of cherry Tunes and a tub of Ralgex rubbed into my bottom didn't seem to cut it

[Rob W]

Wow what hell of a lot to remember.Is it worth it.

[Ben]

I’d chip in with, my thoughts on positive tests for so called “recreational” drugs by professional endurance athletes.

As I see no reason for any leniency, when you put into context with the above.

As it doesn’t take a genius, to see, that by using the above program or similar, hormonal levels will be out of equilibrium. Especially long term use. So next stop, valium, cocaine, etc or whatever “upper” is available.

[Rob Q]

Blimey!! I have trouble just remembering to take anti biotics 3 times a day

[Mike I]

If you remember to take that lot, how can you possibly be expected to remember to show up and be tested for them?

[Ben]

Inspires Confidence

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0908 ... ica_doping

[huw williams]

As a post script to this
Trevor Graham was this week interviewed after years of silence on the matter...

After 5 Years of Silence, Graham Says He Is Innocent of Doping

By DUFF WILSON
Published: October 24, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. — Trevor Graham sat in a memento-filled den in his basement culling through files that traced his own disgrace.

The man who sent the syringe that started the biggest investigation of doping in American sports, Graham still says he is innocent, but few believe him. On Friday, after he took off his ankle bracelet to mark the end of a year of home confinement for a felony conviction for making false statements to a federal agent, Graham broke his five-year silence and began trying to rehabilitate his image.

On the wall to his right hung a framed, autographed track suit, the one Justin Gatlin wore when he won the 100-meter gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

“Never been washed,” Graham, his former coach, said, adding, “We haven’t spoken in a year or two.” Gatlin is serving a four-year doping ban.

To his left, a framed track suit signed by Marion Jones — before her fall from grace and erasure from the record books. “Dedicated to my coach,” the plaque says.

“She’s lying about me,” Graham said.

He said he had not talked to reporters about doping since the 2004 Olympics, when he identified himself as the person who had anonymously sent to antidoping authorities a syringe with an undetectable steroid called the clear.

“That was just a coach doing the right thing,” he said. Many others accused him of trying to wipe out a rival. Eventually the investigation came back to Graham, and he was charged with making false statements about his ties to a steroids distributor. He was convicted on one of three felony charges in May 2008.

On Friday morning, his probation officer cut off the watch-size home monitoring device on his right ankle.

“I wore shorts out for the first time in a year today,” Graham said.

Now he starts probation with freedom to travel — and in his view, more freedom to talk. Graham spoke for nearly five hours Friday night. He sought the interview with The New York Times, which had first identified him, the whistleblower, as a doping suspect.

Last October, federal prosecutors wrote, “There is still absolutely no acceptance of responsibility or remorse by this defendant.” The prosecutors wrote of his “major role in ruining at least a dozen careers and lives other than his own and ringing worldwide shame to the entire sport of track and field.”

Graham said, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Today his job is driving a van for the disabled rather than coaching world-class sprinters. He also still coaches but will not say which runners, or where.

“My probation officer knows exactly what I’m doing,” he said. “I can coach whoever I want to coach because I’m not doing anything illegal.”

USA Track & Field barred him for life, but he says he is considering appealing that penalty. Graham, 46, said he talked about it almost every day with a longtime friend in Florida, sparing his wife, Ann.

“My wife’s a police officer,” he said. “She’s got to chase people. She ain’t got time to sit here and listen to this.”

The Grahams live in a big brick house on a quiet cul-de-sac in far north Raleigh. Ann Graham’s cruiser from the Wake County Sheriff’s Department is parked on the street. She sat poised in the front row of his trial last year. They met more than 20 years ago here at St. Augustine College, where they ran track, and no one has suggested she was ever involved in any wrongdoing.

The Grahams have three children. Their son, T. J., is a sophomore receiver and kick returner at North Carolina State. One daughter is a college student, and the other runs track in high school. Graham’s 76-year-old mother lives nearby.

Their expansive basement — “I designed it,” he said — features a roomy corner with weights and workout equipment, seven connected leather easy chairs arranged in front of a projection screen, a pool table, a kitchen and well-stocked bar.

Upstairs is a spacious living room with cathedral ceiling, plush furniture and a winding staircase.

“Some prison,” he said laughing, then asked for the comment to be off the record. None of the interview was off the record, and Graham said he had nothing to hide. He read through exhibits, witness interviews and grand jury transcripts, being careful not to show a reporter the transcripts; that would have violated federal law.

“See how careful I am?” he said. Graham is entitled to the material from discovery for his trial.

Two confessed steroids distributors, Victor Conte Jr. in California and Angel Guillermo Heredia in Mexico and Laredo, Tex., have said they gave drugs to Graham. But the jury in San Francisco convicted Graham of a tertiary charge of lying to an agent about phone calls to Heredia.

In a phone interview on Saturday, Conte said: “Trevor Graham has not been truthful from the beginning. I personally gave him drugs on several occasions, including hand to hand, so there’s no doubt in my mind that Trevor Graham distributed performance-enhancing drugs to his athletes.”

Heredia did not respond to e-mail and text messages.

“It’s clear that Mr. Graham is still living in La-La Land,” said Travis Tygart, the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

At the trial, five athletes testified that Graham had set them up with Heredia to get drugs. Graham contended that they all conspired against him and lacked proof. The jury did not convict him on that key charge because two jurors voted to acquit him.

Since then, Graham’s lawyers have turned up a 2002 e-mail message from an athlete who had claimed Graham set him up with Heredia. “Don’t worry,” the athlete wrote to Heredia. “You know I wouldn’t mention anything to him about what we do.”

Not enough to overturn the conviction, Graham’s lawyers told him. Even if one person’s testimony is discredited, too many others remain.

Of all the people out to get him, Graham said, the most motivated are Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, who has written a book, and Heredia, who would like to write one. They have repeatedly called Graham a liar, a coach who pressured his athletes to dope.

“Everything goes back to me sending in the syringe,” Graham said, “because if I hadn’t done that, none of this would have happened.”

A banner on the wall in his den says, “Another Terrific Year for Trevor — World’s Most Hated Coach.” A gift from his wife after the 2004 Olympics, Graham said, to signify all the people who wish he had never sent the syringe.