US drugs lab boss breaks his silence

The man at the centre of the biggest drugs scandal to hit sport today broke his silence on the controversy, making a series of damaging allegations against Marion Jones and warning that a new undetectable steroid is already in circulation.

Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, in San Francisco, and one of four men indicted for running an illegal international steroid ring, has lifted the lid on his part in the scandal in an interview to be aired on American television tonight.

In it he claims he supplied three-time Sydney Olympic gold medallist Jones with a cocktail of banned drugs, known as "the clear".

According to Conte, he watched as she injected herself with a mixture of the designer steroid THG, human growth hormone, insulin and the blood-boosting drug EPO.

Describing how he watched her inject growth hormone into her leg, he said: "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."

In a separate interview with an American magazine, he added: "There was a lot she needed to know, like how to assemble it, how to get the air bubbles out of the cartridge so she didn't inject air, and how to inject herself.

"She was wearing stretch bicycle shorts, and she pulled up the spandex above her right thigh. She dialed up the cartridge injector to deliver 4.5 units of growth hormone. I was sitting about a foot away from her as she injected the growth hormone into her leg.

"I know that she was tested many, many times from the timeframe that I worked with her . . . and she obviously passed all those drug tests, including the ones at the Olympic Games," he said. "So as I told you earlier . . . it's like taking candy from a baby."

Conte's remarks are similar to claims made in July by Jones's ex-husband, the former World shot-putt champion CJ Hunter.

He claimed, that in the run-up to the Sydney Games, he saw his then wife inject herself with banned drugs.

Jones, who is under investigation for steroid use by the US Anti-Doping Agency, vehemently denies using drugs and passed a lie detector test arranged by her attorneys in June.

She competed in the Athens Olympics in August but failed to win a medal.

"Conte's statements have been wildly contradictory, while Marion Jones has steadfastly maintained her position throughout: she has never, ever used performance-enhancing drugs," said her attorney, Rich Nichols.

"Conte is simply not credible. We challenge him to submit to the same lie detector procedure that Marion Jones passed."

Conte also alleges that a new drug he describes as "the clear III" is already being used without detection by top athletes.

Today's allegations come as it was reported that top baseball stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, told a federal grand jury investigation in 2003 that they used drugs supplied by Conte.