Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was named in a report from Al Jazeera as one of a number of notable athletes who were given performance enhancing drugs from an anti-aging clinic in Indianapolis. Manning came out on Sunday and strongly denounced the report, which also named MLB athletes Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard as players that were supplied PEDs.
The report from Al Jazeera came out on Sunday and was an undercover report detailing use of HGH and performance enhancing drugs by athletes. According to ESPN, Manning was "disgusted" at the report and strongly denied using any performance enhancing drugs. The report said that Manning received supplies of drugs under his wife Ashley's name and the report mainly involved a man Charlie Sly, who reportedly spoke about the athletes using PEDs.
The report, named "The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers," said that Manning was given human growth hormone while recovering from numerous neck surgeries back in 2011 when he was with the Indianapolis Colts. Sly was named by Al Jazeera as a pharmacist that was employed at the Guyer Institute, where Manning received treatment in 2011.
According to Chris Mortensen at ESPN, Sly said that he was not at the institute during that time and that he "recanted" his story to Al Jazeera. Sly said he "made up" names to British hurdler Liam Collins, who was the undercover reporter in the story. Sly said that Collins was "trying to get into the supplementation business" and that while he was working at the institute, he "had never seen the Mannings ever."
Manning admitted to getting treatment at the Guyer Institute and that he worked with Dr. Guyer, but that he was never given any medication and while here he used "nutrient therapy, oxygen therapy and other treatments that are holistic in nature, but never HGH." Sly said in the video that Manning and his wife had received treatments from the clinic. Sly also said that Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard received HGH shipments. Later Sly said that he was "testing" the Al Jazeera reporter by naing athletes like Manning, Howard and James Harrison, among others.
Manning spoke about the report on ESPN on Sunday, saying: "Absolutely not, absolutely not," Manning said. "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."