Remember the BALCO steroid scandal? If not, here’s a notable timeline

Netflix’s highly popular sports documentary series Untold has returned with Vol. 3, and one of the chapters of the new season puts the spotlight on the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) scandal. The scandal involved selling and using banned, performance-enhancing substances by professional athletes that stretched across baseball, track, field, and football.

Here is a rundown of the highlights from the federal investigation of BALCO.

Beginning of the BALCO investigation

The investigation of the selling of the enhancing substances began in 2002, which coincided with a simultaneous investigation by the USDA. In 2003 the USDA received a syringe with trace amounts of an unknown substance. It was later determined that the anonymous tipster was Trevor Graham, sprint coach to Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. The syringe would be delivered to Don Catlin, who had developed a testing process for the substance tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).

Catlin would go on to test existing samples from athletes, and in the aftermath, he determined 20 that proved positive for THG.

Positive tests and incriminated athletes

After those 20 positive tests were determined, a handful of renowned athletes were subsequently incriminated following the investigation. Kelli White, sprinters Dwain Chambers, Konstantinos Kenteris, shot putter Kevin Toth, middle distance runner Regina Jacobs, and hammer throwers John McEwen and Melissa Price were among the high-profile athletes implicated in the investigation.

Jason Giambi

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Among the handful of athletes that testified in front of a grand jury, former American League MVP Jason Giambi admitted to steroid use and human growth hormones (HGH) in December of 2003. Giambi first contacted BALCO after asking about Barry Bonds’ training regimen. The leak of court documents that reportedly contained his admission has tarnished his legacy. However, because he has never failed a drug test, he has since avoided punishment from Major League Baseball.

Barry Bonds

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The former Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants outfielder holds the MLB records for home runs in both a single season and a career and has never been caught explicitly using steroids and has since denied any use of them. Skeptics have highlighted Bonds’ increase in muscle and hitting power during the later stages of his career as apt indications of his steroid use. Like Giambi, Bonds has never been punished by the MLB, given that he has not yet failed a drug test.

Marion Jones

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The track and field athlete, who won gold at the 2000 Summer Olympics, has been publicly suspected of using steroids, given her marriage and eventual divorce to University of North Carolina coach C.J. Hunter. Hunter was involved with BALCO and was caught using performance-enhancing drugs, thus tarnishing his career. She also had a relationship with American sprinter Tim Montgomery, who was seen benefitting from the banned substances provided by BALCO.

Eventually, in October 2007, Jones admitted to lying about her use of performance-enhancing drugs. However, she maintains she did not know and thus willingly took the banned substances, which she initially believed were flaxseed oil.

Bill Romanowski

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The most notable football player to be involved in the BALCO scandal was two-time All-Pro Bill Romanowski. He openly advertised the zinc supplement ZMA and has since been accused of using other performance-enhancing drugs such as HGH. While his resume includes being a four-time Super Bowl champion, his implication in the BALCO scandal has nonetheless tainted his legacy.

BALCO Aftermath

The MLB had no established policy against using steroids before the BALCO scandal. In the aftermath, then-commissioner Bud Selig introduced a league-wide policy that states an 81-game suspension shall be enforced if a player first fails a test for using steroids. A 162-game suspension is handed out if a player fails a second test and a third failed test calls for a lifetime ban from MLB.