Series Review: "Untold: Hall of Shame" (2023).

From the director of The Pez Outlaw comes Untold: Hall of Shame. This documentary film directed by Bryan Storkel. For sixteen years it was said BALCO Laboratories, a supplement and nutrition company based in the Bay Area, never dabbled in illegal, performance-enhancing drugs. But by 2000, BALCO and Victor Conte became well-known for athletes in search of steroids, fame, and world records - Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, and Jason Giambi to name a few. The film features interviews with several of Conte’s notable former associates including Tim Montgomery and the anti-doping and IRS authorities who helped send him to prison - only being found guilty on 1 indictment, out of 42. Watch to see the behind the scenes story of BALCO. 

In 1984, Victor Conte founded BALCO, a sport supplement company in neighboring Burlingame, California. Investing in an ICP spectrometer, Conte used his knowledge of nutrition, largely self-taught, to devise a system of testing athletes for mineral deficiencies in order to maintain a perfect balance of minerals in the body. Through regular urine and blood testing, Conte would monitor and treat mineral shortages in athletes, supposedly elevating their level of physical wellness dramatically. BALCO did not achieve professional success until the summer of 1996 with the addition of NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski to its client list. From there, Conte began acquiring additional high-profile athletes with a special concoction of undetectable drugs assembled by Illinois chemist Patrick Arnold and distributed by personal trainer Greg Anderson. Arnold combined a wide range of substances, that when used in a cycle could go relatively undetected by drug testing, even on the Olympic level. Five different types of drugs along with mineral supplements were used to achieve optimum results. Types of drugs included erythropoietin, human growth hormone, modafinil, testosterone cream, and tetrahydrogestrinone. From 1988 to 2002, Conte, Arnold and Anderson continued selling these substances undetected when the official federal investigation of BALCO began. Parallel with this investigation, the USADA began its own covert investigation of Conte and his operation. In the summer of 2003, USADA investigators received a syringe with trace amounts of a mysterious substance. The anonymous tipster was Trevor Graham, sprint coach to Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. The syringe went to Don Catlin, MD, the founder and then-director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, who had developed a testing process for the substance, tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Later that year, the Chicago Tribune named Catlin Sportsman of the Year. He tested five-hundred and fifty existing samples from athletes, of which twenty proved positive for THG. Athletes including Kelli White, Dwain Chambers, Konstantinos Kenteris, Kevin Toth, Regina Jacobs, John McEwen and Melissa Price were subsequently incriminated in the investigation.

We all know BALCO's story, but the Untold entry on BALCO and its scandal is still a valuable and insightful biopic. It was pure madness and there was plenty of blame to go around - but Hall of Shame does a journalistically sound job of putting events in perspective. Hall of Shame may not be a game-changing film but it shows that Netflix has potential to rival ESPN in the sports documentary department.

Simon says Untold: Hall of Shame receives:

Also, see my review for Untold: Johnny Football.