Conte Says M. Jones Used THG, Other Drugs

Track superstar Marion Jones used a steroid and a variety of banned drugs leading up to the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, according to Victor Conte Jr., the man at the center of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) steroid scandal who claimed he provided the drugs.

In an interview on ABC News's "20/20" that is scheduled to air tonight, Conte told correspondent Martin Bashir that he designed a drug program for Jones that included the previously undetectable steroid THG -- which Conte referred to as "the clear" -- the endurance-building drug erythropoietin (EPO), human growth hormone and insulin.

Conte, the founder of BALCO, also claimed that he showed Jones how to inject human growth hormone and that she injected herself in the leg in his presence. He said he worked with Jones from August 2000 through September 2001.

"She obviously passed all those drug tests, including the ones at the Olympic Games," Conte said in excerpts of the interview provided by ABC News. "I have no bone to pick with Marion. I'm here today because I believe that the world needs to hear the truth . . . "

Asked if he considered Jones a drug cheat, Conte said, "without a doubt."

Jones has acknowledged a brief relationship with Conte in which she used one of BALCO's legal supplements but repeatedly denied ever taking any banned performance-enhancing substances. In a statement, her attorney, Richard M. Nichols, attacked Conte's credibility and pointed out that Jones had passed a lie detector test on the subject of drug use.

"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," Nichols 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 . . . Mr. Conte is simply not credible."

Conte's attorney, Robert Holley, did not return a call to comment.

Conte, who was indicted in February on federal steroid charges, is the second person to allege that Jones used banned drugs, a charge she has vehemently denied. The San Jose Mercury news reported that her ex-husband, shot putter C.J. Hunter, told federal investigators in June that she used a variety of banned substances before, during and after the Sydney Olympics, in which she won five medals.

At the time, her attorney, Joseph Burton, accused Hunter of lying, saying he "had an ax to grind" since she ended their marriage in 2002.

Jones, who did not win a medal at the 2004 Summer Games, has been under investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for months, but has not been charged.

Bashir also interviewed Kelli White, the U.S. track star who admitted using numerous drugs and accepted a two-year ban from USADA last spring. White said Conte told her she could be "Number one in the world" if she followed a regimen of drug-taking. She said she developed acne, her voice changed and she got "very big, very muscular" while on Conte's program. She said she had a menstrual period every week.

"It got to be so easy [winning races] that I was actually disappointed . . . the guilt was too much then," she said.

Conte also acknowledged giving "the clear" to Barry Bonds's personal trainer Greg Anderson, who was also indicted in February, but Conte said he did not know whether Anderson gave it to Bonds.

Conte and Anderson both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Conte also told Bashir that 50 percent of baseball players are taking anabolic steroids and 80 percent some sort of stimulant before every game. He called baseball's drug testing program "a joke."

He also called the Olympic Games "a fraud," saying, "The whole history of the Olympic Games is just full of corruption, cover-up, performance-enhancing drug use. It's not what the world thinks it is."