IFBB professional bodybuilder Victor Martinez is expected to win the 2009 Arnold Classic bodybuilding contest on March 7, 2009 according to pro bodybuilding analysts. In addition to the rigorous precontest demands of preparing for one of the most prestigious pro bodybuilding contests on the calendar, Victor Martinez also had to contend with false reports published in the New York Daily News.
During the course of the Alex Rodriguez steroid investigation,the New York Daily News sent sports writer Christian Red down to the Dominican Republic presumably to find out how easy it was to obtain the same anabolic steroids purported to have been used by Alex Rodriguez i.e. testosterone and Primobolan. Alex Rodriguez admitted using anabolic steroids which he alleged were purchased in the Dominican Republic by his cousin.
When Christian Red learned that A-Rod’s preferred steroid Primobolan was NOT legally available in Dominican Republic pharmacies, he searched for other sources of steroids in the Caribbean nation that included gyms and supplement stores. The quest to purchase steroids led Red to the Santo Domingo supplement store identified as “Gurabo” that allegedly sells anabolic steroids. The New York Daily News FALSELY reported that Victor Martinez owned the supplement store(“‘Boli,’ A-Rod’s steroid of choice, is illegal, but that won’t stop you from getting it in Dominican,” February 21).
At the Santo Domingo supplement store Gurabo, owned by Dominican bodybuilder Victor Martinez, anyone can walk in and purchase steroids, protein powders and supplements. On a recent afternoon, the store was teeming with customers, everyone from ripped gym rats to scrawny young men. Photographs of Martinez and his cartoonish muscles adorned one wall. Buying “Boli”, however, was a little trickier. The bodybuilder said that Primobolan is sometimes available at a store such as Gurabo, but more often it is acquired on the black market: business has been good, he says, after A-Rod’s admission that Primobolan was his drug of choice between 2001-03.
Daniel Ferreira, the attorney for bodybuilder Victor Martinez, has stated that Martinez does NOT have any ownership stake in the Gurabos supplement store whatsoever, disputing the factual accuracy of Christian Red’s report. Red apparently assumed, in the absence of any journalistic fact-checking, that Victor Martinez owned the supplement story based on posters of Victor from a guest appearance on behalf of MHP. Ferreira has formally requested that the New York Daily News post a correction to the inaccurate article.
Victor Martinez previously won the 2007 Arnold Classic. Unfortunately, Victor could not fully enjoy the victory because he was unfairly identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the nationwide internet pharmacy steroid investigation by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. Martinez was unfairly tarnished by David Soares since he was never charged with a crime. The practice of naming unindicted co-conspirators is frowned upon by many in the legal community although it is legally permitted.
Not only was bodybuilder Victor Martinez publicly named by prosecutor David Soares, but his name and photograph have been prominently featured on the government website at the heart of the investigation for over a year! This is particularly unfair to Victor Martinez.
The grandstanding attacks against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have become an annual ritual with the steroid-addicted media and they are certain to continue as long as Arnold is active in politics and continues his involvement in the steroid-plagued sport of professional bodybuilding. Gov. Schwarzenegger has promoted the key event in men’s professional bodybuilding with business partner Jim Lorimer for 21 years.
Schwarzenegger has admitted using anabolic steroids during his competitive years as a professional bodybuilder. But Schwarzenegger has been roundly criticized for his hypocrisy when it comes to steroids, not only from anti-steroid crusaders but also by industry insiders. Schwarzenegger spoke this weekend on CNN’s “State of the Union with John King” about the obligation of athletes, and presumably pro bodybuilders, to avoid using steroids. He affirmed his current belief that sports should be free of steroids and athletes who use steroids are making a mistake (“Schwarzenegger: Steroid Use Sends Bad Message,” February 22).
I think it’s important to get the message out that we should not use drugs. I think we have a certain obligation as athletes to inspire young people. When someone wins an Olympic championship or a boxing championship, whatever it may be, you’re not only a champion, but you’re also an inspirational vehicle for young kids and for people in general to stay fit, to lose weight and all of this.
I think that the message of not using drugs, not using alcohol, all of those things, always out there and inspire young kids. So I think there are some athletes go in that direction because there’s so much competition. I think they need to come out, be clean, and say look, I used that, I made a mistake, or whatever it is and the sports ought to be without drugs. That’s the important thing.
Governor Schwarzenegger pledged to aggressively pursue illegal steroid use in bodybuilding in 2006 promising to convene a steroid summit of IFBB pros, bodybuilding magazine publishers, and contest promoters in order to develop and enforce a strict anti-steroid testing and education program. The governor’s pledge at the 2006 Arnold Classic to “be all over the situation” of illegal drug use in the bodybuilding. There, he vowed to convene a summit of promoters, athletes and magazine publishers to develop tougher drug testing and enforcement to discourage steroid use (“Bodybuilding connection again singes governor,” March 6, 2007).
Jim Lorimer warned professional male bodybuilders competing in the bodybuilding competition in a private athlete’s meeting prior to the 2008 Arnold Classic about reporters asking questions about “enhancement.” This was interpreted by those in attendance as a reference to anabolic steroids and other performance enhancement drugs although Lorimer never mentioned steroids directly.
Jim Lorimer told the athletes that every one of the over 30 sports federations competing in the Arnold Sports Festival had a testing protocol including the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB). Lorimer discusses the existing amateur protocol in the IFBB but also announced that in January 2008 the IFBB has implemented a testing protocol in the IFBB Professional League to protect integrity and future of the sport. The testing was implemented in response to other professional sports being “killed by the publicity” surrounding doping. Details of the IFBB’s new testing protocol have never been publicly released.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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