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Ben Johnson to Lance Armstrong: A chronology of doping scandal

Athletes accused of using banned substances threaten the integrity of sports ranging from track and field to baseball and cycling. Will the NFL be next? Here is a look at key moments in the evolution of sports doping.

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AP/File
Ben Johnson of Canada, right, leads the pack to win the 100-meter dash finals in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Johnson was later stripped of his medal when he tested positive for a banned steroid.
  • By Staff The Christian Science Monitor

• September 1988: Speed demon Ben Johnson is stripped of Olympic gold for testing positive for a banned steroid after winning the 100-meter race.

• November 1999: World Anti-Doping Agency is established to coordinate and monitor the fight against doping in sports.

• September 2003: Federal authorities raid BALCO, a California company suspected of supplying illegal performance-enhancing drugs to professional and Olympic athletes. The BALCO scandal would eventually reveal that doping in sports is endemic.

• December 2004: Giants slugger Barry Bonds is reported to have testified to a grand jury in late 2003, per the BALCO case, that he used steroids during the 2003 season, but unwittingly. Three years later, he would be charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

• March 2005: Major League Baseball's Mark McGwire sidesteps questions about his own steroid use during testimony on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers threaten federal legislation to govern drug testing in baseball. Five years later he would admit to using steroids.

• October 2007: Track and field star Marion Jones admits in federal court that she used steroids before the 2000 Olympics. She is later stripped of three gold and two bronze Olympic medals.

• December 2007: Bonds and star pitcher Roger Clemens are among 91 players implicated by the Mitchell report as users of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Among the report's recommendations to Commissioner Bud Selig to end baseball's "steroid era": a credible drug-testing program for players.

• February 2008: Clemens, aka the Rocket, tells Congress in sworn testimony: "I have never taken steroids or HGH [human growth hormone]." His former trainer testified that he did. Clemens would later be tried for perjury – and exonerated.

• January 2013: MLB adopts a tougher drug-testing regimen, stiffening requirements to include random tests for HGH during the playing season, starting in 2014.

• Cyclist Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, admits in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to doping for years. The US Anti-Doping Agency accuses Armstrong of engaging in an extensive scheme to cover up his use of banned drugs and practices. He has been stripped of his titles.

• News reports that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis used deer-antler spray, which contains a banned substance, dominate pre-Super Bowl coverage. Lewis denies using the spray to help him recover from a torn arm muscle.

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