A link between two UCLA track and field legends and Balco
Laboratories surfaced Saturday, marking the first time any Bruins
have been named in connection to what may be the biggest drug
scandal in U.S. sports history.
Former UCLA sprints coach John Smith and two-time NCAA champion
Ato Boldon each signed separate non-disclosure agreements with
Balco owner Victor Conte Jr. in late 2001, the San Jose Mercury
News reported Saturday.
The documents, which make no references to drug use, reportedly
do not specify the purpose of the agreement. Any association with
Conte, however, could be damaging to either Smith or Boldon given
the climate of the sport since the Balco investigation was
publicized.
Boldon, a member of the stable of world-class sprinters coached
by Smith at HSInternational track club, was quick to rebuff any
suspicion of illegal drug use. The outspoken former Olympic silver
medalist reiterated his innocence by posting a response to the
Mercury News article on his Web site Saturday morning.
“As I have previously stated and continue to state, I have
had no relationship whatsoever with Victor Conte or Balco
Labs,” Boldon said.
A long-time proponent of a zero-tolerance drug policy, Boldon
made a statement on his Web site referring readers to his online
diary, where last year he openly referenced what he says is his
lone encounter with Conte. Boldon alludes to rejecting
Conte’s sales pitch in a meeting between the two men at an
unspecified prior date.
Boldon was much more forthright in his response than Smith, who
could not be reached for comment.
Perhaps the most renowned sprints and hurdles coach in the
nation, Smith, spent nearly three decades in Westwood as a
decorated athlete and coach, and still trains his HSI sprinters
each morning at Drake Stadium.
“If you are going to do something illegal, why would you
sign a (non-) disclosure document,” HSI president Emanuel
Hudson asked reporters Saturday. “Do you think a crack dealer
on the corner would say he would want you to sign a (non-)
disclosure agreement before he sells you the crack?”
The documents that reportedly link Conte to the two former
Bruins are part of thousands of pages of evidence amassed by
federal investigators against Balco.
Four men, including Conte, have pleaded not guilty to steroid
distribution charges stemming from last year’s discovery of
the previously undetectable anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone
(THG). No trial date has been set.