Ángel Guillermo Heredia Hernández
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Ángel Guillermo "Memo" Heredia Hernández (born 12 February 1975) is a Mexican former
discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...
er and
sports coach An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ul ...
known for his training expertise in boxing as well as his involvement in the
BALCO scandal The BALCO scandal was a scandal involving the use of banned performance-enhancing substances by professional athletes. The Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) was a San Francisco Bay Area business which supplied anabolic steroids to profes ...
.


Career

During his discus throwing career he was largely known as Guillermo Heredia. In his first international appearance he placed seventh in the
youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...
section of the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships. He repeated that placing at the 1993 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships. He won his first international medal at the 1994 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, securing the junior discus title and also coming eight in the
shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...
. Later that year he represented Mexico at the
1994 World Junior Championships in Athletics The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
, but was eliminated in the qualifying round. Heredia struggled to break into the sport at a senior level and began doping with
human growth hormone Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in ...
and
testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...
. Olympische Spiele: Der Dealer Olympias
. ''
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'' (Ausgabe 33/2008). Retrieved on 1 February 2014.
He won four discus titles at the Mexican Athletics Championships from 1995 to 1999, but failed to achieve his dream of performing at the
Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
. He expanded his knowledge of using
performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...
and found that this was highly valued by other athletes looking to dope. Following in his father's background as a chemistry professor, Heredia earned a science degree which led him to deeply explore the chemical functions of various drugs and devise methods which both reduced the chances of detection in drug tests and made efficient use of their athletically enhancing effects. As an athletics coach and chemist he was largely known as Ángel Heredia and gained the nickname "Memo". He worked with a number of prominent
track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
coaches including Trevor Graham, Winthrop Graham, John Smith and Ray Stewart. He created a number of doping substances and methods, with a combination of testosterone, growth hormone and EPO being his most successful. Following revelations of widespread doping, stemming from the BALCO scandal, Heredia discussed his methods and doping in general with international media. He was called as a witness by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
and the
United States Anti-Doping Agency The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...
several times from 2008 to 2011.Slater, Matt (25 April 2013)
From Balco to boxing: a sport on the ropes
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...
. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
Following this period he began referring to himself professionally as Ángel Hernández and began working as a
strength and conditioning coach A strength and conditioning coach (also known as an S&C coach) is a physical performance professional who uses exercise prescription to improve the performance of competitive Athlete, athletes or Sports club, athletic teams. This is achieved throug ...
. He works with legal training boosting methods, such as very specific training routines,
altitude training Altitude training is the practice by some endurance athletes of training for several weeks at high altitude, preferably over above sea level, though more commonly at intermediate altitudes due to the shortage of suitable high-altitude locations. ...
, and legal nutritional supplements. He began to work with boxers
Juan Manuel Márquez Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez (born August 23, 1973) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from featherweight to light welte ...
and
Jorge Arce Jorge Armando Arce Armenta (; born July 27, 1979), best known as Jorge Arce, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the second boxer from Mexico to win world titles in ...
in 2011, helping both to world titles.Donegan, Lawrence (10 October 2011)
Márquez's guiding Angel finds it hard to escape his drug-tainted past
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heredia Hernandez, Angel Guillermo Living people 1975 births Mexican male discus throwers Strength and conditioning coaches Doping cases in athletics Mexican sportspeople in doping cases