Marion Jones' husband injecting her with banned drugs. Tim Montgomery going into Mexico with an admitted steroids dealer to test his blood for doping. Antonio Pettigrew routinely receiving overnight packages stuffed with the oxygen-boosting EPO.
That and much more of US athletics’ doping scandal was tediously laid out during testimony on Tuesday at former coach Trevor Graham’s trial.
Graham is charged with three counts of lying to government authorities investigating a massive sports doping ring centered at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) in the San Francisco suburb of Burlingame.
It was only the second day of an expected two week trial, but already the names of many of the nation’s doping-disgraced athletes from around the 2000 Olympics in Sydney were dredged up.
Jones, Montgomery and Pettigrew each won gold in Sydney while training with Graham.
Lead government investigator Jeff Novitzky testified that shot putter C.J. Hunter, who tested positive for banned substance right before the Sydney games, twice injected his then-wife Jones with EPO.
The government’s key witness, admitted performance enhancing drug dealer Angel “Memo” Heredia, testified he helped those athletes and others — through Graham — obtain banned performance-enhancing drugs.
With three months to the Beijing Olympics, the day’s testimony focused on the many athletes Heredia claims to have set up with performance-enhancing drugs. All three of Graham’s charges are connected to his telling Novitzky that he had only one benign telephone call with Heredia in 1996 and never met or bought drugs from the Mexican native.
Heredia testified that in December 1996 Graham drove 22-hours from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Laredo to consummate a drug distribution relationship. Heredia even had photographs of the trip, where he said Graham stayed at his apartment for several days and that they crossed the border to Mexico at least once.
In addition, eight others, including BALCO founder Victor Conte and Jones, have pleaded guilty to various charges of drug dealing and lying to federal investigators. Jones is serving a six-month prison sentence and Montgomery was recently sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to writing fraudulent checks.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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