That night, Warton stopped by Sebastian"s house.
"The International Anti-Doping Agency has come to America. They have brought the latest detection technology for illicit drugs. You"ve heard all of this, right?" Sebastian asked awkwardly.
"Yes, I have," Warton looked at Sebastian and asked, "My name was in the investigative report. I"m not going to be caught, right?"
Sebastian thought for a while before saying, "Well, I"m not sure."
"You"re not sure? Why? You told me Franklin"s technology was years ahead of the International Anti-Doping Agency and that it would never be detected." Warton became angry immediately.
"There was an accident. I didn"t expect it," responded Sebastian.
"What should we do? If I"m found out I"ll be suspended and won"t be able to attend the Olympics." Warton was nervous.
"Calm down." After Warton calmed down, Sebastian continued. "I"ve always claimed that I"ve never given any illicit drugs to athletes, so if you are found out I want you to take full responsibility."
"Me? Are you kidding me? I"d be suspended. My whole career would be ruined!" Warton shouted at Sebastian.
"Warton, you are still young. Even after a few year suspension, you"ll still be in your prime. That"s no big loss for you," said Sebastian.
"Not a big loss? It"s funny..." Warton said with a sneer. "You"re just trying to protect yourself."
"You are going to be found out anyway. Why do you want me to go down with you?" said Sebastian.
"You gave me those drugs!" Warton snorted. "Don"t think you can distance yourself from this."
"You used the drugs to improve your performance then. You couldn"t resist the temptation. Can you really blame me?" Sebastian put on a serious look and continued, "I"m doing this for you. If you take full responsibility, I"ll try to intercede for you. With my personal relations.h.i.+ps, you"ll get off easy. You might only be suspended for a year or two. If I"m caught, no one can help you."
"That was what you told to Justin Alexander, right? You s.h.i.+fted all the blame onto the athletes, while you avoided taking responsibility," Warton"s tone was full of sa.s.s. "I won"t be as stupid as Alexander. I guess you are also in trouble now, right?"
Sebastian got much more aggressive. He said in a threatening tone, "You better wrap your head around your situation right now. All I have to say is that you used illicit drugs of your own will. I didn"t partic.i.p.ate in it and I didn"t know anything. What can you do to me? You have no evidence to prove that I gave you the drugs.
"Why not cooperate with me and take the blame? It works out for both of us. You are smart. You must be able to see this is the best option for you."
...
Walking out of Sebastian"s house, Warton was distraught. He didn"t know what to do.
What should I do? Do I really have to take all of the blame? Will Sebastian intercede for me? Will my career be ruined?"
Maybe I should talk to someone. Warton took out his phone and called his agent.
An hour later, Warton met his agent in a small bar. Warton found a small table near the corner and told his agent everything.
"Sebastian wants you to take all the blame? Really?" His agent shook his head.
According to his agent, if Warton was suspended, he"d lose any chance at getting endorsed and the agent would lose lots of money. The longer Warton was suspended, the more the agent would lose. Therefore, his agent didn"t want him to take all the blame. He thought it would mean a longer suspension.
"I really don"t know what to do." Warton looked desperate.
Warton"s agent got an idea. "We can strike him first. Sebastian wants to s.h.i.+ft all responsibility onto you, right? You should put it all on him instead. We can hold a press conference and admit that you have used drugs, but that Sebastian masterminded eveeything. You were innocent until you were corrupted by Sebastian."
"But I have no evidence," said Warton.
"Your words are all the evidence you need." His agent was serious. "It"s a battle between you and Sebastian. One of you is gonna take the blame, and the other one will be fine.What"s it gonna be?"
...
Williams, the CEO of the U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation, was really a successful manager. Since he was appointed to his position, he had signed several large sponsors for the a.s.sociation, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Besides, he had also negotiated with many broadcasters on television relay agreements, expanding the a.s.sociation"s influence.
However, now Williams was facing the biggest crisis since his appointment.
The drug scandal was a huge blow to the sports world of America. It was more like a deadly strike to track and field sports. It was known that drug cases were much more frequent in track and field than other sports.
This time was no different. The U.S. Track and Field a.s.sociation was going to lose a lot in this drug scandal.
Williams" office was closed. Only two people were in the room, CEO Williams and the USA Track and Field"s second person in command, COO Frey.
"Mr. Williams," Frey asked. "Have the International Anti-Doping Agency come to a decision?"
"Yes, but it hasn"t been announced. Since the Olympic Games are approaching, the International Olympic Committee doesn"t want to make such a big scandal public yet. They instructed the anti-doping committee to downplay this problem," said Williams.
"Downplay this problem. Great. That"s great." Frey heaved a great sigh of relief.
However, Williams wasn"t optimistic. He added, "It will reduce the amount of negative press we get. Our athletes and coaches are still going to face consequences though. Suspension is the best case scenario for many of them, but the Olympics is fast approaching."
Williams picked up a paper on the table and handed it to Frey. "Take a look. This is the list of athletes who have been using illicit drugs. The list has not been published yet. I got it through personal relations. The athletes on the list are definitely not going to attend the Olympic Games."
Frey took the paper. His expression became grim as he looked at every name on the list. When he"d finished, he looked absolutely wretched.
"None of them can attend this Olympic Games?The IOC can"t bend any rules? Every year we give them so much money. Don"t we get special treatment?" asked Frey.
"I"m afraid not. This time is totally different. The evidence is overwhelming. If the IOC gives us the green light, other countries will be upset. If it looks like they"re giving us a pa.s.s they will lose some of their authority. If they lose their authority then no one will want to host the Olympics anymore," said Williams.
"I remember some of those athletes had falsified medical records so as to use drugs properly. Will they get higher penalties? We can announce to the public that they didn"t falsify medical records," Frey asked.
Williams shook his head and said, "It"d be feasible if we were the only ones involved, but FBI and American Medical a.s.sociation are in this now too and the media has been watching.. Those doctors who prescribed fake prescriptions will eventually confess. Then, we"d get a lot of backlash from the press and we could be sued."
"But so many athletes are on this list. There are 73 athletes from the national team. If they can"t attend the Olympic Games, we"ll only have half a team," said Frey.
"Therefore, we have to let other athletes take their spots in accordance with the qualifying rules," Williams said. "According to the rules, the top three performers at qualifiers are qualified to attend the Olympic Games. If someone can"t attend, the fourth athlete takes his spot. If the fourth athlete also can"t attend, the fifth one takes his spot and so on. There are so many track and field athletes in America. Surely we can find enough."
"I"m not so optimistic. Take the women"s 100-meter dash as an example: two of the top three athletes are on the list as well as the fourth, the sixth and the seventh-place athletes. We might be in similar trouble with other events." Frey sighed.
"We have no choice now. We"re also going to have a hard time finding a good coach. You should see the list of coaches who are involved. It is more serious than the athletes. All the coaches recruited by the national team are all on the list!" Williams said worriedly.
Looking at the list of namest, Frey said, "How ironic! As the most powerful national team of track and field sports and the biggest delegation of Olympic track and field events, the United States has no suitable coach! All right, the whole world is waiting to laugh at us."
"We will not become the laughing stock of the whole world. We can never allow it to happen. In addition to athletes, we must recruit coaches immediately," said Williams decisively.
"It will be more difficult than selecting athletes. All the coaches who attended the interview for the head coach of the national team are on the list!"
"So those coaches are dirtier than athletes! Sports coaches in recent years have been involved in many scandals.They provided illicit drugs for athletes, took bribes and even s.e.xually a.s.saulted athletes..." Williams snorted, "But we really have no choice now. We have to find a coach as clean as possible!"
...
Sebastian hadn"t expected Warton to admit to using drugs but the athlete s.h.i.+fted the responsibility to him.
It was brilliant for Warton to strike first. Sebastian even had no time to react, and the media came to him at once. Sebastian still refused to admit it.
"That"s slander. A rumor! I definitely didn"t give Warton any illicit drugs!"
"Warton lied. He was slandering me!"
"Why did he lie? Because he wants to pa.s.s the buck! He wants to pa.s.s the buck to me, so he can get away with it!"
"If Warton thought what he said was true, he should provide enough evidence to prove that I gave him those drugs."
"Warton has no evidence at all. He"s talking nonsense! I"ll hire a lawyer to investigate his legal liability!"
Sebastian"s acting was really good. His solemn and strict expression even made many journalists feel that Sebastian really had been wronged.
Two middle-aged men in suits elbowed their way into the crowd.
"Stand aside please." The two middle-aged men walked through the crowd of journalists and to Sebastian.
"Are you Mr. Sebastian? I"m Agent Smith with the FBI." One of them took out his credentials as he spoke.
"Yes, I am. What"s the matter?" Sebastian became nervous suddenly.
Agent Smith said, "When we investigated the Franklin Lab, we found a doc.u.ment which indicates that during the last five years they have provided you with 73 types of steroid derivative reagents. 341 times in total. These reagents probably can be used as performance-enhancing drugs for athletes. So please come with us and a.s.sist in our investigation."
"Oh... oh..."
The journalists seemed surprised as they all turned to Sebastian.
He had just been insisting that he had nothing to do with those drugs, and these journalists had believed him.
However, these two FBI agents revealing this information about a doc.u.ment connecting him to Franklin Labs and the illegal drugs. This really was a fatal blow to Sebastian..
Sebastian became so irritated that he fainted. He knew all of his excuses were meaningless now.