The only line you really need to read in this entire fiasco was that Asafa Powell of Jamaica made this stunning accusation during a news conference promoting his shoe sponsor.

Now that we have established the motive, the star runner stood on his soapbox and claimed that although he was one of 10 track and field athletes to volunteer for an anti-doping testing program, Powell feels that the International Association of Athletics Federation have overstepped their boundaries. Since arriving in Beijing on August 1, Powell has been tested four times and now is claiming, “They are taking so much blood, I am going to be very weak before the final of the 100 meters,” he said in the AP report.

Let’s see…athlete needs to attract attention for the shoe company that he is plugging, not enough electricity, throw in a controversial topic to make shoe company happy.

The only thing left would have been if Powell tried to say that he was being singled out for extra testing because of his race, and the other nine athletes in the program were not tested as often as he. When in doubt, cause a commotion. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: The Final Sprint

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, something like this pops up. The former Heidi Krieger, who was crowned the 1986 European Women’s Shot-Put Champion, has made a public statement that being ‘tricked’ into taking steroids caused her to go through physical and emotional problems, which resulted in a 1997 sex change operation.

As told to CNN, the now-Andreas Krieger said, “I felt much more attracted to women and just felt like a man. But I knew I was not lesbian.”

Krieger further stated that her coaches told her that the oral Turinabol tablets were vitamins, and she is dismissing her awards as “doping medals.”

Once the Berlin Wall and the Kremlin fell, it was no secret that Eastern Bloc nations were giving their athletes steroids for international competitions. There is a good chance that Krieger wasn’t told that she was being given gear, but how much that had to do with her wanting to live the rest of her life as a man is debatable at best, and preposterous at worst.

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Claiming her innocence while her lawyer states the positive test for Clenbuterol contained only “low amounts” of the drug, swimmer Jessica Hardy ‘s dreams of winning Olympic gold in Beijing this summer are in doubt. After testing positive in both her “A” and “B” tests following meets during Olympic trials on July 4, the 21 year-old began spinning damage control.

For her to fail a ‘sandwich’ unrinalysis after testing negative on July 1 and 6, Hardy is going to try to use them as leverage against the middle test. How far that will go remains to be seen, especially with the back-up ‘B’ test coming out the same. Her fate will be determined by proceedings that will begin in the near future.

Clen can clear the body and is not usually detected through the urine 72 hours later. That would make it appear that Hardy used the substance right after her July 1 test, or sometime the next day. It appeared to be out of her system on July 6 with the negative test, so that leaves a small window of when she could have used it.

“I’m innocent,” Hardy told reporters via telephone in the company of her attorney, Howard Jacobs. “That’s all I can say to everybody. Whether or not people choose to believe me, I’m innocent.” Not the easiest sell, especially with Howard basically admitting that the positive test was correct by claiming the low amounts. Low or high, Clen is a banned substance and if Hardy was caught using it, she is wrong. Only making it worse on herself by denying the obvious, Hardy should also look into finding more convincing counsel.

A check of her official website, www.jessicahardy.net showed that the page was ‘not found.’

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Perhaps looking to limit bad press by initiating it, two countries have chosen to leave some of the obvious users at home before The Games begin. Bulgaria withdrew it’s entire weightlifting squad following 11 positive steroid tests from both the male and female teams, including 2007 world champion Ivan Stoitsov (left). Greece had the same amount of lifters kicked off the team, but will still send representatives to Beijing.

By appearing to come clean up front, these two nations – who have probably looked the other way at the obvious for decades – now look like the ultimate good guys. By avoiding a possible scandal in this steroid conscious world, both the Greek and Bulgarian teams may not win any hardware in China, but – in the eyes of some – will be more honorable because of that.

With two wars being fought overseas and the situation in Iran becoming even more tense, George W. Bush is quite busy during his last few months in the White House. Perhaps the last thing on his mind is to give a break to Marion Jones, the Olympic track star currently serving a six month prison sentence as part of her plea bargain. After compounding her legal problems of lying to the feds about using performance-enhancing drugs with a fraudulent check scheme, Jones’ chances for early release are not too good.

As confirmed by the Justice Department, Jones is merely one of several hundred applicants applying for sentence commutations and presidential pardons. The difference is that a pardon is an “act of forgiveness” which also removes civil liabilities, while a commutation is either a reduction or elimination of a sentence.

Jones has been serving her sentence since March 7 in Texas, which includes 800 hours of community service after release.

With all of the negative attention on steroid use by athletes, Jones is going to find it difficult to garner any sympathy from the president. Because she was in the forefront of the BALCO case and initially pleaded her innocence, Jones has been cast – perhaps unfairly – as the female version of Barry Bonds in many people’s eyes. By serving her time she will probably be looked at in a better light than if she ‘gets off easy.’ There are not too many people out there that will side with her, especially Bush.

In retrospect, it appears that Jones’ biggest mistake was not coming clean about steroids, an even bigger one than using them to begin with.

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Three and counting. That’s what the Tour de France has become, and with Italy’s Ricardo Ricco being disqualified, doubt is hovering over every rider left.

A winner of two previous stages, Ricco is the biggest name to be caught using performance-enhancing drugs this year. He was detained by police, who have been quite busy cracking down on cyclists who have been caught using and/or possessing steroids.

Ricco made a bid to keep himself in the race by claiming he has a naturally high hematocrit level, which is an indicator of possible EPO use. It didn’t work and his entire team pulled out of the race, leaving more suspicion and questions being asked.

This marks the third consecutive year that the Tour de France has had a doping scandal interfere with the famous bicycle race.

Photo credit: bikeradar.com

The people behind the Tour de France don’t play around. They are hell-bent on cleaning up the sport of cycling and have done a pretty good job of it this summer. Another competitor has been arrested and thrown out of the race following a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.

Moises Duenas Nevado of Spain tested positive for EPO, setting of a chain of events that resulted in his imprisonment. French police conducted a search warrant in the cyclist’s Tarbes hotel room and seized what was described as “banned medicines,” according to published reports.

Nevado, 27, is the second rider to be thrown out of the Tour following countryman Manuel Beltran, who was competing with an Italian team. It was less than a week ago that Beltran also tested positive for EPO.

Neither should expect help to come out of their union dues. “I just can’t understand when these guys are going to learn,” International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid said to reporters. “If the ‘B’ sample is positive, then all I can say is the guy’s a fool. The net is closing in.”

Before the positive test, Nevado was holding on to the 19th position in the race.

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Brad Miller, the veteran center of the Sacramento Kings, received a five-game suspension from the NBA after violating the league’s anti-drug program. The name of the drug was not released, and speculation was that it may have been marijuana or even anabolic steroids.

Looking at Miller’s injury history makes one wonder if he did take a performance-enhancing drug. He missed quality time for two years leading up to last season, where he played in 72 games and averaged 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game before being forced to the sideline for the final seven games due to a left leg stress fracture and a bad elbow.

Miller released a statement through the team, which did not give any clues as to what he was actually suspended for. “I want to apologize to my family, teammates, fans and the entire Kings organization,” the statement read. “I made a mistake. It was an error in judgement and I’m very sorry. I regret it deeply. It’s something I won’t and can’t take lightly. I hope to bounce back from this as a better person adn I’m excited about the upcoming season”

The NBA’s drug policy is a 10-game suspension for steroids, but this report was very vague. Miller could have missed taking a scheduled test, which would fall under the umbrella of “violating the league’s drug program.” There is nothing in the statement by the NBA indicating there was a positive test or even an actual test run.

Looking over the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, a player is gone for 10 games the first time he gets caught using performance-enhancing drugs, but won’t miss that many games until his fourth positive test of marijuana. What exactly does that say to the fans?

Miller will serve the suspension at the beginning of the 2008-09 season.

Photo credit: Slam Dunk Central