Top Stars Named In Steroid Reports

A flurry of steroid-use accusations and key interviews are appearing in the media this week.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday that Barry Bonds testified to a grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by a trainer who was indicted in a steroid-distribution ring, but said he didn't know they were steroids.

"He denied ever knowingly taking a steroid and insisted up and down that what he was doing was using an arthritis balm and taking a nutritional supplement called flaxseed oil," Chronicle reporter Lance Williams told CBS radio station KCBS.

And the main at the center of the drug scandal told ABC's 20/20 that he gave Marion Jones performance-enhancing drugs and watched as she injected herself with human growth hormone. The broadcast is set to be aired Friday.

Jones should be stripped of her five Olympic medals if allegations that she used banned drugs before the 2000 Sydney Games are true, World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound said Friday. In excerpts released by ABC before the Friday night show, Victor Conte said he started supplying Jones with doping substances in the weeks leading up to the 2000 Olympics.

Jones, a standout athlete at the University of North Carolina who won three gold and two bronze track and field medals in Sydney, repeatedly has denied ever using banned drugs.

Bonds, too, has stuck to his story.

"Confronted with the threat of a perjury case if he lied, Bonds nevertheless went right down the line and said 'I don't know anything about this, I didn't do it,' and he simply wouldn't give an inch," Chronicle reporter Williams said.

Also accused of injecting himself with human growth hormone, Jason Giambi, the New York Yankees baseman/designated hitter, made testimony to the grand jury that may spell the end of his career. The Yankees might seek to terminate the hitter's $120 million contract and baseball commissioner Bud Selig may seek to discipline him.

Giambi said he injected himself with human growth hormone in 2003 and used steroids for at least three seasons, according to a leaked grand jury transcript reviewed by the paper.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said his office was concerned about the leaks to the Chronicle and asked the Justice Department to investigate. "Violations of grand jury secrecy rules will not be tolerated," Ryan said.

Bonds told the federal grand jury last year that Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, told him that the substances he used in 2003 were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis, according to a transcript of his testimony reviewed by the Chronicle.

The substances Bonds described were similar to ones known as "the clear" and "the cream," two steroids from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the lab at the center of the steroid scandal.

Bonds told the jury he never tried to hide his use of the products.

"He said he used the products openly in the Giants clubhouse in the presence of reporters and other players," said Williams. "He said he wouldn't have done that if there was anything wrong with it."

Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, said the leak of grand jury testimony was an attempt to smear his client. Grand jury transcripts are sealed and the Chronicle did not say who showed them the documents.

"My view has always been this case has been the U.S. vs. Bonds, and I think the government has moved in certain ways in a concerted effort to indict my client," Rains told the newspaper. "And I think their failure to indict him has resulted in their attempts to smear him publicly."

After a hearing Thursday, BALCO founder Victor Conte, one of those charged in the case, hinted more athletes could be included in the case.

"There will be a naming of names," he told reporters.

It is uncertain what punishment, if any, Bonds and Giambi could receive from baseball, which didn't have penalties for steroid use until 2003.

"We will do something. We will do something," Selig said Thursday.

While discipline is spelled out for positive tests and criminal convictions from 2003 on, admission of illegal steroid use is not addressed, possibly giving Selig an opening to punish Bonds. Even so, baseball can't test him more than other players because it's been over a year since the steroid use referred to in the testimony.

Randy Levine, the Yankees' president, met for more than an hour with Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations and human resources. The team reportedly is seeking relief from the $82 million remaining on Giambi's contract.

"We don't know what our options are right now," a Yankee official told the Daily News. "This bomb hit and now we're trying to find out."

One of those options may be to file a grievance against Giambi.

"They want to be rid of him," a source told the New York paper. "What they could say is, 'Either agree to some sort of buyout or we'll make you the poster boy for steroids.'"

Giambi testified that he obtained several different steroids from Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, one of four men indicted by the grand jury probing the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. He said he got the hGH from a gym in Las Vegas.

Tony Serra, Anderson's lawyer, said Anderson "never knowingly provided illegal substances to anyone."

Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' association, declined comment.

Anderson, Conte, BALCO vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny have pleaded not guilty to charges that include steroid distribution.

Fans are disillusioned by Giambi's reported drug use, reports CBS News Correspondent John Blackstone.

"It tarnishes his image, it's a shame," said Len Callahan.

"When my son told me about it this morning when I woke up," said John Komendowski. "The look on his face — he was very disappointed."

"It's how it is. Everybody's looking for an edge," said Jerry Levine.

Selig repeatedly has called for year-round random testing and harsher penalties, but management and the players' association have failed to reach an agreement. The contract runs through the 2006 season.

"I've been saying for many months: I instituted a very, very tough program in the minor leagues on steroids in 2001. We need to have that program at the major league level," Selig said Thursday in Washington, D.C. "We're going to leave no stone unturned until we have that policy in place by spring training 2005."

In an interview to be shown on ABC's "20/20" on Friday night, Conte mocked MLB's drug-testing program.

"Let me tell you the biggest joke of all: I would guesstimate that more than 50 percent of the athletes are taking some form of anabolic steroids," he said.

Regarding the Jones case: Under the IOC charter, Olympic decisions can be challenged within three years of the games' closing ceremony. The Sydney Olympics ended more than four years ago, on Oct. 1, 2000.

But Pound said that rule might not apply, because there was no actual decision in this case.

"We will find a way to deal with that," Pound said. "It's arguable there was no decision taken, just a list of results. So you're not challenging a decision."

Jones, who did not win any medals at the Athens Olympics, has been under investigation for months by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, but has not been charged. She lives and trains in the Raleigh, N.C., area.

USADA general counsel Travis T. Tygart said Friday he could not comment on any particular athlete, but said the agency remains interested in "all information, which will assist us in identifying those who have used drugs in sport."

"Now that Mr. Conte has apparently broken his silence, we will renew our request that he communicate directly with us as we continue to review all relevant information related to the BALCO doping conspiracy," Tygart said.

Conte said he worked with Jones from August 2000 to September 2001. He said he designed a doping regimen for her that included the previously undetectable steroid THG, the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO, human growth hormone and insulin.

Conte was indicted in February by the grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. Conte, BALCO vice president James Valente, Barry Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson and track coach Remi Korchemny all have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Jones' attorney, Richard M. Nichols, said Conte is not credible.

"We invite the public to decide: Victor Conte is a man facing a 42-count federal indictment, while Marion Jones is one of America's most decorated female athletes," he said. "Mr. Conte's statements have been wildly contradictory, while Marion Jones has steadfastly maintained her position throughout: She has never, ever used performance-enhancing drugs."