Written by Jill Martin at CNN.com
Five months after winning Super Bowl 50 in his final game, Peyton Manning scored another victory this week.
The NFL announced Monday that it has found no credible evidence that the now-retired NFL quarterback was provided with or used human growth hormone, or HGH, which had been alleged in December in a documentary by Al Jazeera America.
The league also said there was no evidence that Manning had used any other performance-enhancing substances.
The accusation was made in Al Jazeera’s report, “The Dark Side,” in December. The report claimed Manning was among a number of professional athletes, including other NFL players, who were provided HGH by Dr. Dale Guyer, the owner of an anti-aging clinic in Indianapolis. The report was based in part of conversations captured on hidden camera.
Former Guyer Institute employee Charlie Sly had alleged — before later recanting — that Manning and other athletes were provided with HGH from the clinic by mail. Sly claimed the packages were sent to Manning — then with the Indianapolis Colts — under his wife’s name, Ashley Manning.
In the documentary, Sly tells Al Jazeera about the drugs Guyer allegedly would provide his clients.
“Like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere…” Sly said in the report. “And it would never be under Peyton’s name, it would always be under her name.”
In a video statement posted on YouTube, Sly recanted his story.
“The statements on any recordings or communications that Al Jazeera plans to air are absolutely false and incorrect,” Sly said.
HGH has been banned from the NFL since 2011.
“The Mannings were fully cooperative with the investigation and provided both interviews and access to all records sought by the investigators,” the NFL said Monday.
Manning, who played for the Denver Broncos from 2012 until he retired this March, had emphatically denied any wrongdoing from the start.
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