One of the United States’ most controversial doping experts believes that the record-breaking success of Jamaican athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China was a fraud.
Founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), Victor Conte made his suspicions of Usain Bolt and other Jamaican runners known during an interview with Italian newspaper, La Gazetta dello Sport on Thursday. Conte was the former mentor to disgraced American sprinter Marion Jones who, amongst others, was implicated in the 2007 BALCO steroid scandal. BALCO was a lab that produced and supplied once-undetectable designer steroids to many superstar athletes.
Now Conte believes that Usain Bolt and others may have used illegal methods to achieve gold medal-winning success during the Beijing Olympics.
According to Conte, athletes from another Caribbean nation told him that at the 2001 IAAF world championships in Edmonton, a doctor from their team supplied them with testosterone, EPO (erythropoietin) amongst other steroids. Furthermore, Conte intimated that an informer told him that prior to the 2008 Olympics, Jamaicans were using the same methods that he was using during his time at BALCO.
"I don't have proof, but all you need to do is look at the results: I strongly suspect (Usain) Bolt, and the others (Jamaicans)," Conte said.
The BALCO owner also suggested that the current anti-doping policy in athletics was lacking structure; claiming that persons who administer drug tests should do so during the last four months of the year before a major tournament instead of the actual Olympics of IAAF games.
Usain Bolt ran a World Record time of 9.69 seconds in the 100m in Beijing as well as a record-breaking 19.30. He surpassed both those times at the 2009 IAAF tournament; beating his previous 100m and 200m marks by 11 seconds each.
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