BALCO Chemist Pat Arnold's shocking exclusive interview with George Spellwin - Articles and Blog

Fresh off appearing on the Costas Now show in one of the most controversial sports-related interview ever, Patrick Arnold decided to give me an exclusive interview. And you won’t believe some of the things he said as well as some of the jabs he threw at former BALCO partner Victor Conte.

Rewind back to 1998 and you’d probably have a very difficult time finding anyone who had heard of Patrick Arnold. In fact, you’d probably have a tough time finding anyone who actually cared since most people were caught up in the magical 98’ baseball season that was capped off by Mark McGuire’s home run record breaking season.

Little did people realize though that part of the credit for McGuire’s amazing year was owed to chemist Patrick Arnold and his incredible new product androstenedione (a.k.a.Andro) which McGuire used to help him smash 70 homers that season.

But now, Patrick Arnold doesn’t need quite the introduction that he needed back in those days. His chemistry career has been one of the most brilliant, and most controversial, in sports performance enhancement history. And as a key figure in the BALCO scandal, his notoriety has only grown in recent years including a very racy interview just a little while back on the Costas Now show that once again placed Arnold on news stations across the world.

However, despite all of the media coverage that Arnold has received, I still felt like there were some questions left to be answered. And I knew that there was only one way to find these answers: Talk to the man himself!

Patrick Arnold

George Spellwin: You probably feel as if you've been asked a million questions about the BALCO ordeal by now. But how big of a relief was it for you after your trial when you received your sentencing and realized that the whole thing was finally close to being over.

Patrick Arnold: It was a relief for me when my attorneys came to a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution in April '06, but I still had to wait until August for the judge to confirm the sentence. She had the option to demand a higher or lower sentence, and so I was not sure whether or not political pressure was going to influence her to give me more time. But once I received the agreed upon sentence I knew what I was facing. Also I knew that I could then at least talk about the whole thing and not screw up my case.

George Spellwin: When you were in the midst of being involved with BALCO and the whole sports doping thing did you ever feel as if this was going to blow up as big as it did with regards to national news coverage for weeks on end.

Patrick Arnold: I saw the potential for a huge scandal quite clearly. I couldn't really understand why Victor Conte did not see this potential as well, or perhaps he did not care about the trouble we were heading towards. He should have put limitations on whom he dealt with and whom he communicated with but apparently he did not. By not doing so he put a lot of people at risk. But what happened, happened and I harbor no ill will towards him or anyone. I am just thinking retrospectively here.

George Spellwin: Even after BALCO, you again made national news when you did a very interesting interview on HBO's Costas Now that sort of summed up how you got involved with BALCO and your feelings about Barry Bonds using steroids. Do you have any regrets about this tell-all interview or are you happy with the results?

Patrick Arnold: I have no regrets about that interview and I think the end product was very professionally done. I said what I said about Barry and Sheffield and everything else with no qualms. Some people think what I did equated to some form of "snitching”. Give me a break. These ball players are not my friends. Don't think for one second they give a rat's ass about me. So why should I "protect" them?

George Spellwin: After your interview on Costas Now, there seemed to be a little bit of backlash through the media from BALCO founder Victor Conte insisting Barry didn't use steroids and baseball player Gary Sheffield saying he didn't use steroids and doesn't know you. Do you have any rebuttals on their comments?

Patrick Arnold: I don't really know why VC is protecting these guys but that's between him and them. The fact is that the grand jury testimony was leaked and the transcripts made it pretty much obvious to everyone already that these baseball guys were taking the Clear. Not only that, but Sheffield's and Giambi's own public comments offer further incrimination. So I don't see my statements as really changing public opinion.

One more thing. Victor has a lot of allies that attacked me for what I did saying it was not cool to "out" athletes like that, and that I did it for attention. Well where were these people when Victor went on 20/20 and enthusiastically threw Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, and others under the bus? Why was it OK for him to talk but not for me? And did not Victor do that interview for attention and self promotion? Bottom line is Victor got his 15 minutes and now I got mine. So let’s move on.

George Spellwin: You designed what is one of the most brilliant steroids of all time in 'The Clear' as it was not only very potent but could also beat any drug test at the time. Drug testers couldn't even identify it for the longest time. How long did it take you to develop this cutting-edge steroid?

Patrick Arnold: Well it took dozens of years to gain the knowledge and technical ability to be able to conceive and manufacture the product. And it took a lot of failed attempts at other designers before I hit it right with THG. But if you are talking from conception of the molecule itself to final product then it was only a few months. It involved finding a source for gestrinone and then once I had obtained some of this material I just performed the same chemical reaction that I had been doing to make norbolethone from levonorgestrel.

George Spellwin: In your post trial interview outside of the courthouse in San Francisco, you stated that you'll no longer be involved in sports doping. You also kind of indicated that you were against sports doping. Is there anything that you are doing now or might do in the future to help prevent sports doping? Or is this something that you feel is best left up to the numerous anti-doping agencies out there?

Patrick Arnold: I will leave that up to the doping testers. It is sad to me that the illicit use of steroids in competitive sports has given them such a black mark that society today has become so hysterically anti-steroid. I am fully supportive of people's rights to use performance enhancing drugs outside of the competitive tested arena, but those rights have been taken away from us. All because of the Olympics and what not.

George Spellwin: EliteFitness.com is a site full of serious bodybuilders and what is interesting is that you happen to be a bodybuilder yourself. Is there any particular routines or workouts that are your favorite?

Patrick Arnold: I like to utilize periodization in my training. There are times I do high volume / low intensity and vice versa. It becomes very important when you get older to understand your body's limitations, and to know how to mix things up so that you don't suffer setbacks.

George Spellwin: You have posted quite a few messages on the EliteFitness.com Forums under the name pa1ad before. Can we expect to see more of Patrick Arnold on the Elite Fitness message boards in the future?

Patrick Arnold: Yeah I used to post there quite a bit but it's been a while. I like to spread myself around some of the bigger boards. Perhaps I will stop back in at EF and check it out.

George Spellwin: Are you much happier these days now that you are involved in developing legal supplements?

Patrick Arnold: Well I always was involved in developing legal supplements as you know. So I guess your question should be am I happy to not be messing around with illegal or potentially illegal stuff anymore. Yes, very much so. I don't have to be paranoid and I don't have any ethical dilemmas to face either.

George Spellwin: What are some of your company Proviant Technologies biggest products on the market right now?

Patrick Arnold: Our biggest product is 6-OXO, an estrogen blocker and testosterone elevator. Our fat burner AMP is also exploding in popularity and we will have a revamped version of that on the market early next year. Two of our newest products are 11-OXO and Clear Shot. 11-oxo is a combination cortisol blocker and prohormone. Clear Shot is a nifty little energy shot which is sort of like a fast acting liquid version of AMP

George Spellwin: Are there any new, cutting-edge products coming from your company that we can look forward to seeing on the market in the future?

Patrick Arnold: We are about to test out a whole new hormone manipulation product which should positively affect GH, IGF-1, thyroid, and testosterone. It contains purely nutritional ingredients (no hormones or steroids) and so can be used by natural bodybuilders. I have high hopes for this stuff.

George Spellwin: Thanks Pat! I hope we see you back on our site were you belong!

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