Steroid Blotter

August 5, 2006

Patrick Arnold, the chemist who created "the clear," a previously undetectable steroid, was sentenced Friday in a San Francisco courtroom to three months in prison and three months’ home confinement for his role in the BALCO drug scandal. Arnold was ordered to report to prison by Sept. 19.

"I’m very regretful for what I’ve done and especially since what it has precipitated in sports and society," Arnold said outside court. "I do believe there should be a level playing field, and that this whole things needs to be addressed."

It’s B-Day for Floyd Landis. The Tour de France winner will find out this morning whether his backup "B" sample tested positive for doping — a result that could cost the American cyclist the title and lead to a two-year ban.

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, a promising 17-year-old British sprinter, has severed ties with Justin Gatlin’s coach, Trevor Graham, following the American runner’s positive doping test.

Lawyers for San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada argued Friday that the First Amendment protects them from revealing their source for the secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other elite athletes ensnared in the government’s steroids probe. The two reporters published a series of stories and a book based largely on transcripts of testimony by Bonds, Jason Giambi and others who testified in the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White did not indicate when he would rule on the reporters’ motion.