Twelve years after the founder of the notorious BALCO lab hijacked the Sydney Olympics with designer steroids and transformed the world's understanding of doping, Conte arrived at the 2012 Games a changed man with a gold-medal hopeful under his tutelage and a message for anyone who will listen: he is now an anti-doping advocate, and if you are looking for dopers, he can tell you how to find them.
Original Article:Â New York Daily News
By Teri Thompson
August 3, 2012
A dark-haired man with a pencil-thin mustache moved quietly through customs at Heathrow Airport Friday morning, seemingly just another sports fan with his daughter and granddaughter in tow.
He presented his American passport, answered a couple of questions, and headed to a posh hotel near Hyde Park and the Royal Albert Hall where support team members for USA Boxing are headquartered.
Victor Conte was back at the Olympics.
Twelve years after the founder of the notorious BALCO lab hijacked the Sydney Olympics with designer steroids and transformed the world's understanding of doping, Conte arrived at the 2012 Games a changed man with a gold-medal hopeful under his tutelage and a message for anyone who will listen: he is now an anti-doping advocate, and if you are looking for dopers, he can tell you how to find them.
Since he entered guilty pleas in July 2005 to one count of conspiracy to distribute steroids and one count of laundering a portion of a check and spent four months in a federal prison, Conte has devoted much of his time to the pursuit of clean performance, speaking out for more effective testing and supporting the drug testing agency known as VADA (Volunteer Anti-Doping Association).
But on Friday, Conte was mainly concerned about getting through customs and to the hotel where he would meet up with 22-year-old boxer Marlen Esparza, with whom he has been working since January. Esparza, an outspoken defender of Conte, has become something of an Olympic darling, appearing in a McDonald's ad shown on NBC during the Opening Ceremonies, and scoring endorsement deals with Nike, CoverGirl and Coca-Cola.
"I'm here to cheer for American athletes," Conte said, "including Marlen Esparza. It's really that simple. London is a wonderful city. And we expect to have a great time and a wonderful Olympic Games experience."
