REPORT: Investigation reveals Howard was part of doping scandal
An investigative report by Al Jazeera called “The Dark Side” has linked American sports stars such as Peyton Manning and the Phillies’ own Ryan Howard with using human growth hormone, an illegal substance in both football and baseball. The report was given by the network to Huffington Post.
The report involved British hurdler Liam Collins going undercover to unearth the effects doping has on pro sports worldwide. One of the pharmacists, Charlie Sly, told Collins that Manning took HGH to help recover from his neck injury in 2011, and that the medical team would send his wife the drugs. The NFL only began testing for HGH in 2014, which is part oft he reason Manning went undetected. Other football players who were supplied with certain drugs include James Harrison, Julius Peppers, Clay Matthews, Dustin Keller, and Mike Neal.
Notable baseball players like Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman were mentioned in the claims, They were part of the group who took Delta-2, which is the drug most known for beating the professional doping tests.
The report is based on a black market allowing players to easily access these drugs, which beat the system used by many American professional sports leagues. Another pharmacist told Collins that “no one’s got caught, because the system’s so easy to beat, and it still is, that’s the sad fact,” he admitted. “I can take a guy with average genetics and make him a world champion.”
Some of the drugs Robertson designed the undercover Collins were labeled “not for human consumption,” while others were fertility-related.
When Al Jazeera questioned the medical team, however, many of them declined to comment. Sly was the only one to comment, who now says the claims he made to Collins were “false and incorrect.” He later said Collins tried to take advantage of him while he mourned the death of his fiancée.
Al Jazeera is set to air the program tomorrow.
UPDATE: Manning’s camp has admitted that Ashley Manning did obtain a prescription from the clinic.
Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:National News Phillies