The notorious architect of BALCO is showing off a new car. It's a white, sand-colored 2011 Bentley convertible that is one of only 80 made worldwide.
"About $250,000 out the door," Victor Conte says.
That's how the man who engineered the biggest sports drug scandal in U.S. history rolls these days.
The Barry Bonds perjury trial, scheduled to begin Monday in San Francisco, will provide an explosive culmination to the nearly decadelong investigation of BALCO -- the infamous Burlingame facility where Conte helped celebrated athletes reach peak performances with a regimen of illegal drug use.
But in the tradition of fellow convicted felon Martha Stewart, and five years after completing his own prison sentence, Conte is putting the stigma of the sordid affair in his Bentley's rearview mirror.
"There are always going to be people who say I'm the devil, who hate me and think I'm the guy who destroyed the national pastime," Conte said. "I understand I made some bad decisions and harmed a lot of people. But I'm not going to give up living my life."
And life is good.
His legal supplement business is booming. Conte, 60, has begun working with a few elite-level athletes again and now presents himself as an anti-doping crusader who wants to solve the cheating mess he once helped perpetuate.
The author F. Scott Fitzgerald claimed that there are no second acts in American life. He never met Conte, the one-time Tower of Power
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bass player who transformed himself into a self-taught nutritionist.
'Owning' his shady past
After the fall of BALCO, Conte's company, Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning, or SNAC, provided him an entrepreneurial avenue to rebuild his net worth. He claims 100,000 bottles alone of his over-the-counter sleeping enhancer ZMA are sold each month under various product labels.
SNAC's headquarters, located in a San Carlos industrial office park, are decorated with photos and memorabilia from athletes Conte has worked with during his high-flying BALCO days -- many of them now disgraced.
A framed Mercury News front page from May 26, 2004, features the headline: "How BALCO Built the World's Fastest Man." Tim Montgomery, once the 100-meter record-holder, later was stripped of that title and now sits in an Alabama prison for money-laundering and heroin dealing.
Conte describes the SNAC offices as either a "Hall of Shame or Hall of Fame," depending on your perspective.
"Initially, I tried to run from who I am," he said. "Products wouldn't have my picture. I didn't really want people to know that it was me."
But he reconsidered and decided to "own" his shady past. So, a company brochure announces: "Balco Mastermind Victor Conte Introduces The SNAC System!"
Conte, who once flexed his biceps for cameras in front of the San Francisco court building, doesn't do chagrined. He even has a dog named Balco.
Make no mistake, though, Conte is well-aware that he ruined lives and reputations.
The BALCO scandal led to the United States giving up Olympic track medals, the erasing of world records and world titles, and numerous convictions. One-time golden girl Marion Jones was exposed as a fraud.
Truly reformed?
Bonds, the investigation's other signature athlete, finally has his day in court over whether he lied about his alleged illegal drug use.
The two were introduced through their mutual friend, Greg Anderson, the slugger's personal trainer. But while Conte speaks willingly about the cheating of former track clients such as Jones, he has claimed to have no knowledge of the baseball star ever using illegal drugs.
Conte maintains that his association with Bonds was much more transient -- he gave his father, Bobby Bonds, who was then dying of cancer, concoctions to help ease his suffering. Bonds and Conte have not talked since BALCO was raided on Sept. 3, 2003, by authorities that included IRS agents.
Whatever the outcome of the trial, a large segment of baseball fans always will view Bonds' home run records as tainted.
And Conte will be regarded as the puppet-master who led the stars astray. He served four months in a minimum-security prison and four months under house arrest after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering.
Five years later, the San Mateo man seemingly is everywhere. One recent day, his voice was raspy from doing nonstop interviews. He contends that elite-level sport, as a whole, is dirtier than ever. The NFL, Conte said, "is a complete joke with their testing."
Peter Keane, a former dean at Golden Gate University Law School who has followed the BALCO case closely from the start, gives Conte this: "He does not make things dull."
But the law professor also said Conte's high profile since leaving prison does him a disservice.
"Anybody else who had been through something like this would at a minimum keep their head down, not draw attention," Keane said. "The last thing you would want to be doing is popping off. He seems to have a self-destructive streak."
Frequent targets of Conte's criticism are the world and U.S. anti-doping agencies, which he believes are not serious about ridding sport of performance-enhancers.
Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, counters that the man who figured out how to circumvent the drug-testing system by providing athletes with undetectable steroids hasn't come clean on everything he did during the BALCO years.
"You can't have it both ways," Tygart said. "Victor Conte will not be truthful about Barry Bonds or other athletes. If Bernie Madoff gets out of prison and wants to go work at the Fed while there's billions of dollars yet to be repaid, I think there would be an outcry."
Redemption, Tygart added, "just doesn't come for free."
That hasn't stopped Conte from planning to create a drug-testing program for boxing and mixed-martial arts. He sees himself much like a reformed computer hacker who now wants to design better security systems.
"I realize I may be the only person in the world who can do this thing," he said.
Scrutiny welcome
Conte's interest in boxing begins with his latest project, Nonito Donaire, a 28-year-old bantamweight world champion from San Lorenzo. Donaire started working with Conte after a chance meeting at a bank, even though the boxer's friends and family warned him about the nutritionist.
Bring on any testing, Donaire said.
"I have my vein, you have a needle," the boxer said. "Check it out."
Conte recruited banned BALCO track coach Remi Korchemny, of Castro Valley, to help train the boxer. In a past life, they promoted recovery through the use of such exotic drugs as the blood-booster EPO and human growth hormone. Today, Conte contends the secret formula is old-fashioned rest to help a fighter who previously was overtraining.
Another client is Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd, who, in a recent "HBO Real Sports" interview, said there is nothing improper about his training, although he understands why people would question his ties to Conte.
For his part, Conte knows that many will continue to suspect something nefarious about his methods.
"There will always be doubters," he said. "But the basis of Christianity is forgiveness and there are a lot of people associated with sports who have forgotten that. There are a lot of haters who don't believe enough is enough."
He might include the IRS in that group. Since emerging from prison, Conte and his company have been audited repeatedly.
"I guarantee you," Conte said with a smile, "that we're clean."
Showing posts with label Victor Conte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victor Conte. Show all posts
BALCO's Victor Conte claims beating drug tests as easy as stealing candy from a baby.
He was the BALCO Bad Boy, a sort of Dr. Frankenstein who developed athletic monsters in baseball, track and field and, in the case of Sugar Shane Mosley, in boxing.
Despite his checkered past, Conte hasn't gone underground, instead he's out in the open advising fighters about strrength, conditioning, nutrition and, of course, drugs. This time around, though, Conte claims he's on the right side of the law. He's one of those I did the crime, then I did the time guys.
Consulting with fighters is just a small sideline to his SNAC, Scientific Nutrition and Advanced Conditioning business which he told me has steadily provided him a million dollar annual income flow....the better to pay his huge legal bills, including his continuing defamation battle with Mosley.
And, to hear Conte tell it, he will be around boxing longer than sanctimonious Travis Tygart and his USADA will.
Conte makes it plain that he has little regard for Tygart's public posturing and the tactics used by the anti drug cheating agency.
"I think the time will come when boxing will separate itself from him and the USADA," Conte said. "I think Floyd Mayweather will get away from Tygart and his group as well.
"Tygart puts out all sorts of information which is false and inaccurate. Make no mistake, Tygart has his own agenda.
"Tygart uses scare tactics, for example, storing athletes' blood for eight years," Conte said. "Every other word out of his mouth is random, random, random as in random resting.
"So let's look at what they did on Mosley-Mayweather. They took the first blood and urine tests from the fighters on March 22 and 23, about five weeks out from the night of the bout. It turns out there was no testing on the fighters then for 18-19 days before the fight.
"What is random about that? Random, to me, is 24/7/365. I have real issues with Tygart and with the USADA. He talks about their testing being foolproof and that is simply nonsense.
"Starting to test fighters five weeks out is a joke. Under their system, to get caught using, let's say, HGH or EPO , you would have to really be a moron. Tygart acts like he is the biggest sherriff in town and he talks about full disclosure and transparency.
"There isn't any of that in their program. With the Olympics, they don't tell you that in an 18 month moving time frame, you can miss two tests and no one will know except. You would have to miss three tests before the world finds out and, even then, it's like getting one speeding ticket marked on your driver's license.
"Beating the so called 'gold standard' testing system is like taking candy from a baby. The HGH, the EPO and many other banned substances...you can get them out of your system on the same day you take them or one day later. How hard do you think it is to dodge their testing for one day?
"Even if they come back the next day, you can dodge them again and all you get is a notice of your right to a hearing to explain the circumstances," Conte said.
Despite his checkered past, Conte hasn't gone underground, instead he's out in the open advising fighters about strrength, conditioning, nutrition and, of course, drugs. This time around, though, Conte claims he's on the right side of the law. He's one of those I did the crime, then I did the time guys.
Consulting with fighters is just a small sideline to his SNAC, Scientific Nutrition and Advanced Conditioning business which he told me has steadily provided him a million dollar annual income flow....the better to pay his huge legal bills, including his continuing defamation battle with Mosley.
And, to hear Conte tell it, he will be around boxing longer than sanctimonious Travis Tygart and his USADA will.
Conte makes it plain that he has little regard for Tygart's public posturing and the tactics used by the anti drug cheating agency.
"I think the time will come when boxing will separate itself from him and the USADA," Conte said. "I think Floyd Mayweather will get away from Tygart and his group as well.
"Tygart puts out all sorts of information which is false and inaccurate. Make no mistake, Tygart has his own agenda.
"Tygart uses scare tactics, for example, storing athletes' blood for eight years," Conte said. "Every other word out of his mouth is random, random, random as in random resting.
"So let's look at what they did on Mosley-Mayweather. They took the first blood and urine tests from the fighters on March 22 and 23, about five weeks out from the night of the bout. It turns out there was no testing on the fighters then for 18-19 days before the fight.
"What is random about that? Random, to me, is 24/7/365. I have real issues with Tygart and with the USADA. He talks about their testing being foolproof and that is simply nonsense.
"Starting to test fighters five weeks out is a joke. Under their system, to get caught using, let's say, HGH or EPO , you would have to really be a moron. Tygart acts like he is the biggest sherriff in town and he talks about full disclosure and transparency.
"There isn't any of that in their program. With the Olympics, they don't tell you that in an 18 month moving time frame, you can miss two tests and no one will know except. You would have to miss three tests before the world finds out and, even then, it's like getting one speeding ticket marked on your driver's license.
"Beating the so called 'gold standard' testing system is like taking candy from a baby. The HGH, the EPO and many other banned substances...you can get them out of your system on the same day you take them or one day later. How hard do you think it is to dodge their testing for one day?
"Even if they come back the next day, you can dodge them again and all you get is a notice of your right to a hearing to explain the circumstances," Conte said.
"Confessions of a female bodybuilder" article highlights from New Zealand's press.
“What do you eat!?”
Donnelle Petelo says she’s been asked this so often by men at her gym, she now just laughs at the question.
You see Donnelle has guns. Not the kind a military enthusiast collects but the kind a 32-year-old woman gets from pumping weights nearly every day for the last two years.
The West Auckland mother of three is among the best female amateur bodybuilders in the country and has just placed fourth at the Natural Classic Auckland Champs on Sunday.
In the weeks leading up to the event Donnelle reduced her food intake to a mere 1225 calories per day, while at the same time increasing her already strenuous cardio and weights routine.
Donnelle drastically reduced her water intake too. At the start of last week she was drinking up to four litres per day. On Saturday she was down to 250ml with not a drop on Sunday – the day of the big competition.
In 2007 Donnelle weighed 92kg and had never stepped foot inside a gym, let alone harboured life ambitions to become a top female bodybuilder.
A friend suggested a bodybuilding fitness trainer and in less than a year Donnelle had lost 37kg, and gained an obsession with the training and strict diet of bodybuilding.
“For you to get mass muscle you have to eat a shit load but for you to go on stage you have to eat bugger all – so they are quite polar opposites.”
Donnelle is down to an almost unbelievable 3kgs of body fat. The extreme weight loss has caused her to temporarily lose her period. She says it will probably be up to two to three months before it returns.
“When you get to about that 15 percent (body fat) there are a couple of weeks there where it is really hard, because as a female your body just doesn’t want to go under there,” she says.
The physical dangers of bodybuilding are amplified in the days leading up to competitions – with athletes sticking to “pre-comp diets”. But it is “post-comp” where the mental dangers arise.
Dramatic weight gain is common as athletes return fluid to their bodies causing them to puff out. Donnelle says she has known people to put on as much as 7kg in the day following a competition.
She says the weeks following competitions are full of mind games as your body adjusts to its larger size.
“It does [mess with your mind] as you get leaner and leaner, because it happens quite gradual too. So you begin to like looking like that. So then when you get your butt back and don’t fit your clothes it can be tough,” she says.
Female bodybuilding would however take a dark turn into the 90s with rampant drug use breeding masculine female physiques.
“To counter that, because [drug use] virtually killed the whole sport, they brought in the figure class which is more shape orientated and glamorous. But internationally that is almost getting to where women’s bodybuilding was,” he says.
It sounds like a tired joke. Female bodybuilders hepped up on steroids, growing facial hair and male pecs, but Peter says drugs have nearly taken over professional bodybuilding. He’s seen many athletes push themselves to the edge.
“I’ve seen guys just about die on stage,” he says.
“…because their electrolyte system is so out of wack.”
“Not to veer them away because I don’t think you’re ever gonna change it. But to give people a choice, because without it they have no choice,” he says.
Anabolic steroids are bodybuilding’s elephant in the room – be it an elephant that can bench 400kg. Donnelle says no one talks about them but if you turn professional (“get your pro card”) you basically have to take drugs to be competitive.
Donnelle is drug-free and in her own words “healthy”. She placed fourth at the Natural Classic Auckland Champs, taking the stage with around 30 other women. Even for first place there were no medals, limited prize money and barely any coverage in the press.
Donnelle Petelo says she’s been asked this so often by men at her gym, she now just laughs at the question.
You see Donnelle has guns. Not the kind a military enthusiast collects but the kind a 32-year-old woman gets from pumping weights nearly every day for the last two years.
The West Auckland mother of three is among the best female amateur bodybuilders in the country and has just placed fourth at the Natural Classic Auckland Champs on Sunday.
In the weeks leading up to the event Donnelle reduced her food intake to a mere 1225 calories per day, while at the same time increasing her already strenuous cardio and weights routine.
Donnelle drastically reduced her water intake too. At the start of last week she was drinking up to four litres per day. On Saturday she was down to 250ml with not a drop on Sunday – the day of the big competition.
In 2007 Donnelle weighed 92kg and had never stepped foot inside a gym, let alone harboured life ambitions to become a top female bodybuilder.
A friend suggested a bodybuilding fitness trainer and in less than a year Donnelle had lost 37kg, and gained an obsession with the training and strict diet of bodybuilding.
“For you to get mass muscle you have to eat a shit load but for you to go on stage you have to eat bugger all – so they are quite polar opposites.”
Donnelle is down to an almost unbelievable 3kgs of body fat. The extreme weight loss has caused her to temporarily lose her period. She says it will probably be up to two to three months before it returns.
“When you get to about that 15 percent (body fat) there are a couple of weeks there where it is really hard, because as a female your body just doesn’t want to go under there,” she says.
The physical dangers of bodybuilding are amplified in the days leading up to competitions – with athletes sticking to “pre-comp diets”. But it is “post-comp” where the mental dangers arise.
Dramatic weight gain is common as athletes return fluid to their bodies causing them to puff out. Donnelle says she has known people to put on as much as 7kg in the day following a competition.
She says the weeks following competitions are full of mind games as your body adjusts to its larger size.
“It does [mess with your mind] as you get leaner and leaner, because it happens quite gradual too. So you begin to like looking like that. So then when you get your butt back and don’t fit your clothes it can be tough,” she says.
Female bodybuilding would however take a dark turn into the 90s with rampant drug use breeding masculine female physiques.
“To counter that, because [drug use] virtually killed the whole sport, they brought in the figure class which is more shape orientated and glamorous. But internationally that is almost getting to where women’s bodybuilding was,” he says.
It sounds like a tired joke. Female bodybuilders hepped up on steroids, growing facial hair and male pecs, but Peter says drugs have nearly taken over professional bodybuilding. He’s seen many athletes push themselves to the edge.
“I’ve seen guys just about die on stage,” he says.
“…because their electrolyte system is so out of wack.”
“Not to veer them away because I don’t think you’re ever gonna change it. But to give people a choice, because without it they have no choice,” he says.
Anabolic steroids are bodybuilding’s elephant in the room – be it an elephant that can bench 400kg. Donnelle says no one talks about them but if you turn professional (“get your pro card”) you basically have to take drugs to be competitive.
Donnelle is drug-free and in her own words “healthy”. She placed fourth at the Natural Classic Auckland Champs, taking the stage with around 30 other women. Even for first place there were no medals, limited prize money and barely any coverage in the press.
Conte Weighs In ( on the current use of PEDs in boxing )
"In my opinion, blood testing for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is more important for detecting possible blood doping or use of EPO than it is for human growth hormone. Measuring hematocrit levels (percentage of red blood cells to total whole blood volume) is very important. For example, even without a positive urine test for EPO, cyclists are temporarily suspended for two weeks if their hematocrit is greater than 50%. An elevated hematocrit can provide a significant advantage to a fighter by enhancing oxygen uptake and utilization. This would benefit a fighter in training and especially during the later rounds of a fight."
Scandal-plagued Victor Conte is back.
Andre Ward just became the WBA world super-middleweight boxing champion. Outfielder Marlon Byrd doubled his season-high home run total this year for the Texas Rangers. In March, British sprinter Dwain Chambers ran one of the five fastest 60-meter times in history.
Each has been assisted by a man who earlier this decade orchestrated one of the darkest scams committed in sports history: Victor Conte.
Travis Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said an altitude simulator is not prohibited by authorities, but he scoffed at the value of the device and was blunt about Conte rejoining the athletic community.
"To sell a dirty supplement is easy -- convicted felons can do it -- so who knows what's in this stuff?" Tygart said. "I believe everyone deserves to be rehabilitated, but I question why any elite-level athlete would think anyone like this would have a secret recipe that can work so well. For the life of me, I can't imagine why anyone would associate with someone like this who's made so many mistakes in the past."
Each has been assisted by a man who earlier this decade orchestrated one of the darkest scams committed in sports history: Victor Conte.
Travis Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said an altitude simulator is not prohibited by authorities, but he scoffed at the value of the device and was blunt about Conte rejoining the athletic community.
"To sell a dirty supplement is easy -- convicted felons can do it -- so who knows what's in this stuff?" Tygart said. "I believe everyone deserves to be rehabilitated, but I question why any elite-level athlete would think anyone like this would have a secret recipe that can work so well. For the life of me, I can't imagine why anyone would associate with someone like this who's made so many mistakes in the past."
Interesting new doping interview with Victor Conte from BALCO.
Asked how many of those who reach the 100 metres semi-finals at the London Games could have used performance-enhancing substances in his opinion, Conte said: "I will use the term 'overwhelming majority'.
"I will not say at the competition there were drugs in their system while competing. But during the previous year, at some point during their preparation for this final, with the top-16 two semi-final races, I still believe the majority of athletes will have used some sort of prohibited substance or method."
It's a cat-and-mouse game and maybe I am the self-proclaimed greatest mouse who ever lived," said Conte, speaking with the clinical authority of a pharmacist reeling off scientific facts and studies at a rapid pace.
"I will not say at the competition there were drugs in their system while competing. But during the previous year, at some point during their preparation for this final, with the top-16 two semi-final races, I still believe the majority of athletes will have used some sort of prohibited substance or method."
It's a cat-and-mouse game and maybe I am the self-proclaimed greatest mouse who ever lived," said Conte, speaking with the clinical authority of a pharmacist reeling off scientific facts and studies at a rapid pace.
"But I know how the mice think. That is what I did for a number of years -- find out where the loopholes were and how to circumvent and defeat their policies and procedures.
"I was able to do it successfully for a number of years. I think that ironically qualifies me to make a contribution."
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