Athletes Testify in Steroid Investigation

Two U.S. track and field champions were among the first group of athletes to appear on the 17th floor of the federal courthouse, which has turned into a meeting place for some of the nation's top sports stars.

Shot putter Kevin Toth and 1,500-meter runner Regina Jacobs were among four track and field athletes testifying Thursday before a grand jury probing a California lab that supplies some top athletes with nutritional supplements. The grand jury eventually expects to hear from baseball players such as Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, several NFL players and boxer Shane Mosley.

Jacobs and Toth have been customers of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, which is the target of the probe. Both also have tested positive for the new designer steroid THG that has been linked to BALCO.

"Regina was here. She did nothing wrong," attorney Douglas Schwartz said after Jacobs had completed her afternoon testimony. "I really feel sorry for these athletes, because they've really become the victims here."


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"I really feel sorry for these athletes, because they've really become the victims here."

Those rich, cheating victims?

I hope all those involved are banned for life.

... but I can't help but be amused at the attitude some people take concerning performance enhancing drugs.

They've been here a while now, and rules, regulations, testing, etc, etc, etc, have about as much a chance of getting rid of them as anti-marijuana laws have of getting rid of marijuana.

Sucks I know, but that is the fact. This toothpaste will never be put back in the tube.

And bank on this, they are being used *a lot* more than you think. A LOT more. So. Get random testing, get draconian penalties, get whatever you want - people are going to do whatever it takes to compete. Fair or not.