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 documentary, posted online early Sunday morning and set to air on TV later in the day, reports that Manning was given a supply of human growth hormone in 2011 while he was recovering from surgery that year from a man identified as a pharmacist employed at the Guyer Institute in Indianapolis. The report cites the pharmacist, Charlie Sly, who allegedly spoke to an undercover reporter working for the network.Sly later recanted his story, first to Al Jazeera and then to ESPN.
In the documentary, Sly also mentioned Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, Washington Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman and boxer Mike Tyson as athletes who received HGH shipments from him while he worked at the Guyer Institute.
Al Jazeera says in an article shared with The Huffington Post that in the report, titled "The Dark Side," steroids and other drugs were shipped to the home address of Manning in 2011 in the name of his wife, Ashley, so that the quarterback's name was never attached to the shipments.
Sly, now based in Austin, Texas, also accused Manning and his wife in the undercover video of going to the clinic after its normal business hours for intravenous treatments.
In a statement to ESPN's Chris Mortensen on Saturday night, Manning vehemently denied the claims.
"For the record, I have never used HGH. It absolutely never happened. The whole thing is totally wrong," Manning said. "It's such a fabrication, I'm not losing any sleep over it, that's for sure."
He added: "The allegation that I would do something like that is complete garbage and is totally made up. It never happened. Never. I really can't believe somebody would put something like this on the air. Whoever said this is making stuff up."
He went on to say that "Yes, I have been a patient under Dr. Guyer. 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."
Manning is expected to speak with Lisa Salters to respond to the allegations during NFL Countdown (11 a.m., ESPN).
The Broncos defended Manning in a statement Sunday, saying "Peyton does things the right way."
"Knowing Peyton Manning and everything he stands for, the Denver Broncos support him 100 percent," the team said. "These are false claims made to Al Jazeera, and we don't believe the report.
"Peyton is rightfully outraged by the allegations, which he emphatically denied to our organization and which have been publicly renounced by the source who initially provided them."
Sly told ESPN on Saturday night that he recanted his story to Al Jazeera when he realized that it had used information he had "made up" to Liam Collins, a British hurdler and the undercover reporter who he said was trying to get into the supplementation business.
Sly said he was a student intern at the Guyer Institute in 2013 rather than 2011, as the Al Jazeera story alleges.
He told ESPN he was "testing" Al Jazeera's undercover reporter by dropping "names like Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter, Ryan Howard and James Harrison." He said none were clients. While Manning, Howard and Harrison were mentioned in Al Jazeera's HGH investigation, Jeter was not.
"When I realized Al Jazeera was using a secret taping and Collins as a so-called investigative reporter, I was baffled," Sly said. "I cannot believe that can happen. That's why I recanted the story. It wasn't true, and I was trying to pull one over on Collins to see if he had any idea of what he was talking about.
"I was trying to determine whether this guy [Collins] was legitimate or just trying to steal some knowledge about the business."
Manning's agent echoed the quarterback's reaction in a statement issued Saturday night.
"The allegation reported by Al Jazeera naming Peyton is absolutely false and it recounts behavior and events that never occurred," Tom Condon said in the release. "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.
"Any further reporting of this matter is a retelling of falsehoods and fiction and complicity in the lack of journalistic ethics demonstrated by Al Jazeera."
The report links several other athletes to HGH and other drugs, including Green Bay Packers linebacker Mike Neal, who allegedly introduced teammates Julius Peppers and others to Sly, and mentions Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Peppers and Neal as athletes who received shipments of a new performance enhancing drug called Delta-2 from him.
The report goes on to say that Sly furnished Clay Matthews with painkillers and that Howard, Zimmerman and Tyson received drugs from Sly.
Harrison, Zimmerman and Howard all denied the allegations to the network. Neal, Peppers and Tyson didn't respond to requests for comment, Al Jazeera said.
The NFL and players' union added HGH testing to the collective bargaining agreement signed in 2011, but the sides didn't agree to testing terms until 2014. Nobody has tested positive, which would trigger a four-game suspension.
Manning, who joined the Broncos in 2012, has been sidelined since Nov. 15 by a left foot injury. Brock Osweiler will make his sixth consecutive start in Manning's place Monday night when the Broncos (10-4) host the Cincinnati Bengals (11-3).
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