2004: The Year in Sports

 

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BALCO had allegedly developed steroids that were undetectable by current drug testing procedures. Many of the athletes referred to the substances allegedly given them as "the cream" and "the clear."

While Giambi reportedly admitted knowingly using steroids, Bonds -- a seven-time MVP who holds the current record for most home runs in a season and is closing in on Hank Aaron's career home run record of 755 -- said he used "the cream" and "the clear," but believed they were nutritional supplements or pain relief balms, the Chronicle reported.

After the leaked testimony was reported by the Chronicle, Conte, who has pleaded not guilty to 35 charges including conspiring to deliver steroids, fraud, possession of steroids and money laundering, said in an interview on ABC News' "20/20" that he gave steroids to track star Marion Jones.

"After I instructed her how to do it and dialed it up, she did the injection with me sitting right there next to her, right in front of me," Conte said. "Marion didn't like to inject in the stomach area. She would do it in her quad. The front part of her leg."

Jones won five Olympic medals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Rumors of performance-enhancing drug use have dogged her, but she has never failed a drug test and maintains she has never used illegal drugs. This summer in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, she failed to win a single medal.

After Conte's appearance on "20/20," Jones announced that she has filed a $25 million defamation suit against Conte, and denied again ever using steroids or any other banned substance.

The revelations about alleged use of steroids in baseball has led to discussions by both Major League Baseball and the baseball players union about what to do about steroid use, and has raised debate about how Bond's records should be considered.

Even Congress has gotten into the act, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., among others, calling for legislation to address the issue.

"The important aspect of this issue is that high school kids all over America believe that this is the only way they can make it," McCain said. "This is the tragedy of steroids. And we all know that it will destroy a young person's body. And that's why we've got to bring this to a halt."