Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning Linked To PEDs
According to ESPN, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has been listed in an Al Jazeera undercover probe as one of several prominent professional athletes who were supplied illegal performance-enhancing drugs from an Indiana-based anti-aging clinic.
The report, scheduled to broadcast in its entirety on Sunday, does not rely on the kind of documentation that would paint Manning into a corner. Mailing slips or phone records would be a lot more troubling than the recorded words of one pharmacist in Indiana.
“All the time, we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs,” pharmacist Charlie Sly said. “Like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere, Florida. And it would never be under Peyton’s name, it would always be under her name.”
Sly also accused Manning of coming to the clinic afterhours for IV treatments. HGH has been banned by the NFL since that same year, 2011.
This could be someone who is fibbing to convince a potential client of his importance, and medical “experts” have done exactly that through fabrication. And in a short video appended to the report, Sly himself says his own statements in the Al Jazeera report are “false and incorrect.”
Manning immediately released a statement that called the attack a complete fabrication and useless garbage.
Personal statement from Peyton Manning released by the Broncos … pic.twitter.com/O5pJuwzWGF
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) December 27, 2015
Some have interpreted the explanation regarding Ashley Manning, who, according to Al Jazeera, acquired the HGH in her name for Peyton’s use, as being sufficiently vague to account for the possibility that evidence eventually will emerge showing that she had indeed obtained HGH from the Guyer Institute. There’s no evidence of that at this point, beyond Charlie Sly’s recanted claims.
Sly says he recanted his story after he “tested” Collins by dropping names. He admits he was trying to pull one over on the hurdler to see if he knew what he was talking about. He was curious to see if he actually wanted help or just inside information on the business.
“Yes, I have been a patient under Dr. Guyer,” Manning explained, per Pro Football Talk. “I have had nutrient therapy, oxygen therapy and other treatments that are holistic in nature but never HGH. My wife has never provided any medication for me to take. Ashley and I never attended the clinic together after hours. There were times when I went in the morning and there were times when I went after practice so this thing about ‘after hours’ is so misleading because it may have been 5:15 pm because their office closed at 5.”
The report links several other athletes to HGH and other drugs, including Packers linebacker Mike Neal, who allegedly introduced teammates Julius Peppers and others to Sly, and mentions Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Peppers, and Neal as athletes who received shipments of a new performance enhancing drug called Delta-2 from him.
“The allegation reported by Al Jazeera naming Peyton is absolutely false and it recounts behavior and events that never occurred,” Condon said. “The implications suggested by Al Jazeera are outrageous and baseless. Their source has already retracted his statements, as well as advised Al Jazeera those statements were meritless.”
With Manning recovering from a lingering injury and his career diminishing in Denver, it’s logical to wonder what the next development will be. The allegations have ballooned into a firestorm that could be far worse than the possibility of Manning retiring.
[Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images]
