Photo Credit: AP Photo
Late last night a major bombshell dropped in Al Jazeera report claiming Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and other well known athletes were supplied with the performance enhancing drug, human growth hormone. The report entitled “The Dark Side” in which British hurdler Liam Collins went undercover for a monthlong investigation to uncover the use of performance-enhancing drugs use in global sports. He used the cover of wanting to compete in next year’s Olympic games.
In the documentary, he meets with pharmacist Charlie Sly. Sly was working at the Guyer Institute, an anti-aging clinic based in Indiana where he claims he was a part of a medical team that helped Manning recover from neck surgery he underwent that year. HGH and other drugs were allegedly mailed to Manning’s home under his wife’s name.
Sly goes on to say that other athletes are guilty of using Delta-2. Delta-2 is a hormone that acts like a steroid, but is not an actual anabolic steroid. Sly claims to have given the drug to Packers linebacker Mike Neal and defensive end Julius Peppers as well as Steelers linebacker James Harrison. He also claims to have given in to MLB stars Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard and Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman.
Since the report’s release last night on Huffington Post, Peyton Manning released a statement:
Personal statement from Peyton Manning released by the Broncos … pic.twitter.com/O5pJuwzWGF
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) December 27, 2015
As of this morning, Sly has since recanted the version of events used in the reports. He claims after reading it, he realized Al Jazeera used stories that he made up when talking with Collins. ESPN’s Lisa Salters also caught up with Manning this morning who seemed to be extremely angry about the report. “What hurts me the most about this, whoever this guy is, this slapstick trying to insinuate that in 2011, when more than less I had a broken neck — I had four neck surgeries. … It stings me whoever this guy is to insinuate that I cut corners, I broke NFL rules in order to get healthy. It’s a joke. It’s a freaking joke.”
Sly spoke with ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and said he was not a pharmacist and he did not work at the Guyer Institute during 2011. Manning did admit to visiting the facility to use a hyperbolic chamber as well as other holistic treatments to help in his recovery process. He continued expressing his frustration saying, “I think I rotated between being angry, furious. Disgusted is really how I feel, sickened by it. I’m trying to understand how someone can make something up about somebody, admit that he made it up and yet somehow it gets published in a story. I don’t understand that. Maybe you can explain it or somebody else can.”
Ryan Howard’s attorney has also spoken out about the report claiming it is a lie that Howard ever used any banned substances. He released a statement earlier saying, “It’s inexcusable and irresponsible that Al Jazeera would provide a platform and broadcast outright lies about Mr. Howard and Mr. Zimmerman. The extraordinarily reckless claims made against our clients in this report are completely false and rely on a source who has already recanted his claims. We will go to court to hold Al Jazeera and other responsible parties accountable for smearing our clients’ good names.”
