04/11/2025
Victor Conte, the founder of the infamous BALCO lab linked to one of sport’s biggest doping scandals, has died at age 75 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Conte played a central role in the early 2000s performance enhancing drug scandal that included elite athletes like MLB home run king Barry Bonds, Marion Jones (5x Olympic medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games before being stripped of her medals after admitting to lying to federal investigators about her use of PEDs), former 100m sprinter Tim Montgomery (who had a 9.78s 100m world record voided for PED use) and boxer Shane Mosley.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, BALCO became ground zero for distributing undetectable steroids, which were infamously known as “the cream” and “the clear.” A 2003 federal investigation revealed BALCO had supplied PEDs to major figures across MLB, track and field and boxing.
Conte pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering and served 4 months in prison.
The saga was chronicled in the recent 2023 Netflix documentary "Untold: Hall of Shame".
In his later years, Conte founded SNAC, a sports nutrition company that advocates clean training. He also reemerged as a vocal anti-doping advocate by often offering insight into drug testing loopholes.
