Lance Armstrong stripped of Titles and Banned for Life

*Breaking*

It looks like the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency ( USADA) will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles and hit 'em with a lifetime ban ...


Decision comes after cyclist angrily declares 'enough is enough' and doesn't fight PED charges

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48773712/ns/sports-cycling/

AUSTIN, Texas ~ With stunning swiftness, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he dropped his fight against drug charges that threatened his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.

Travis Tygart, USADA's chief executive, said Armstrong would also be hit with a lifetime ban on Friday.
And under the World Anti-Doping Code, he would lose the bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics as well as any awards, event titles and cash earnings.


Armstrong, who retired last year, effectively dropped his fight by declining to enter USADA's arbitration process - his last option - because he said he was weary of fighting accusations that have dogged him for years.
He has consistently pointed to the hundreds of drug tests he passed as proof of his innocence while piling up Tour titles from 1999 to 2005.

"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, `Enough is enough.'
For me, that time is now," Armstrong said.
He called the USADA investigation an "unconstitutional witch hunt."

"I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999," he said.
"The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today - finished with this nonsense."


USADA reacted quickly and treated Armstrong's decision as an admission of guilt, hanging the label of drug cheat on an athlete who was a hero to thousands for overcoming life-threatening testicular cancer and for his foundation's support for cancer research.

"It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes," Tygart said.
"It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option.
There's no success in cheating to win."


Tygart said the agency had the power to strip the Tour titles, though Armstrong disputed that.

"USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles," he said.
"I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours."

Still to be heard from was the sport's governing body, the International Cycling Union, which had backed Armstrong's legal challenge to USADA's authority and in theory could take the case before the international Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Tygart said UCI was "bound to recognize our decision and impose it" as a signer of the World Anti-Doping Code.

"They have no choice but to strip the titles under the code," he said.


USADA maintains that Armstrong has used banned substances as far back as 1996, including the blood-booster EPO and steroids as well as blood transfusions - all to boost his performance.

The 40-year-old Armstrong walked away from the sport in 2011 without being charged following a two-year federal criminal investigation into many of the same accusations he faces from USADA.

The federal probe was closed in February, but USADA announced in June it had evidence Armstrong used banned substances and methods - and encouraged their use by teammates.
The agency also said it had blood tests from 2009 and 2010 that were "fully consistent" with blood doping.

Included in USADA's evidence were emails written by Armstrong's former U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after a positive drug test.
Landis' emails to a USA Cycling official detailed allegations of a complex doping program on the team.


USADA also said it had 10 former Armstrong teammates ready to testify against him.

Other than suggesting they include Landis and Tyler Hamilton, both of whom have admitted to doping offenses, the agency has refused to say who they are or specifically what they would say.

"There is zero physical evidence to support (the) outlandish and heinous claims," Armstrong said.
"The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of (doping) controls I have passed with flying colors."


Armstrong sued USADA in Austin, where he lives, in an attempt to block the case and was supported by the UCI. A judge threw out the case on Monday, siding with USADA despite questioning the agency's pursuit of Armstrong in his retirement.

"USADA's conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives," such as politics or publicity, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote.


Even if UCI and USADA differ on the Tour titles, the ultra-competitive Armstrong has still done something virtually unthinkable for him: He quit before a fight is over.

It was a stunning move for an athlete who built his reputation on not only beating cancer, but forcing himself through grueling offseason workouts no one else could match, then crushing his rivals in the Alps and the Pyrenees.

"Today I turn the page.
I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances," he said.
"I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities."


Armstrong could have pressed his innocence in USADA's arbitration process, which would have included a hearing during which evidence against him would have been presented.

But the cyclist has said he believes most people have already made up their minds about whether he's a fraud or a persecuted hero.

Although he had already been crowned a world champion and won individual stages at the Tour de France, Armstrong was still relatively unknown in the U.S. until he won the epic race for the first time in 1999.
It was the ultimate comeback tale: When diagnosed with cancer, doctors had given him less than a 50 percent chance of survival before surgery and brutal cycles of chemotherapy saved his life.

Armstrong's riveting victories, his work for cancer awareness and his gossip-page romances with rocker Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and actress Kate Hudson made him a figure who transcended sports.

His dominance of the Tour de France elevated the sport's popularity in America to unprecedented levels.
His story and success helped sell millions of the "Livestrong" plastic yellow wrist bracelets, and enabled him to enlist lawmakers and global policymakers to promote cancer awareness and research.
His Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised nearly $500 million since its founding in 1997.


Jeffery C. Gervey, chairman of the foundation, issued a statement of support saying:

"Faced with a biased process whose outcome seems predetermined, Lance chose to put his family and his foundation first," Gervey said.
"The leadership of the Lance Armstrong Foundation remain incredibly proud of our founder's achievements, both on and off the bike."


Created in 2000, USADA is recognized by Congress as the official anti-doping agency for Olympic sports in the United States.

Its investigators joined U.S. agents during the federal investigation of Armstrong.
Tygart dismissed Armstrong's lawsuit as an attempt at "concealing the truth," saying the agency is motivated by one goal - exposing cheaters.

Armstrong had tense public disputes with USADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, some former teammates and assistants and even Greg LeMond, the first American to win the Tour de France.

Others close to him were caught up in the investigations, too: Johan Bruyneel, the coach of Armstrong's teams, and three members of the medical staff and a consultant were also charged.
Bruyneel is taking his case to arbitration, while two medical team staffers and consulting doctor Michele Ferrari didn't formally contest the charges and were issued lifetime ban by USADA. Ferrari later said he was innocent.


Questions surfaced even as Armstrong was on his way to his first Tour victory.

He was leading the 1999 race when a trace amount of a banned anti-inflammatory corticosteroid was found in his urine; cycling officials said he was authorized to use a small amount of a cream to treat saddle sores.

After Armstrong's second victory in 2000, French judicial officials investigated his Postal Service team for drug use.
That investigation ended with no charges, but the allegations kept coming.

Armstrong was criticized for his relationship with Ferrari, who was banned by Italian authorities over doping charges in 2002.
Former personal and team assistants accused Armstrong of having steroids in an apartment in Spain and disposing of syringes that were used for injections.





Lance Armstrong in better days

 

In 2004, a Dallas-based promotions company initially refused to pay him a $5 million bonus for winning his sixth Tour de France because it wanted to investigate allegations raised by media in Europe.

Testimony in that case included former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, saying Armstrong told doctors during his 1996 cancer treatments that he had taken a cornucopia of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.

Two books published in Europe, "L.A. Confidential" and "L.A. Official," also raised doping allegations and, in 2005, French magazine L'Equipe reported that retested urine samples from the 1999 Tour showed EPO use.

Armstrong fought every accusation with denials and, in some cases, lawsuits against media outlets that reported them.

He retired in 2005 and almost immediately considered a comeback before deciding to stay on the sidelines - in part because he didn't want to keep answering doping questions.

"I'm sick of this," Armstrong said in 2005.
"Sitting here today, dealing with all this stuff again, knowing if I were to go back, there's no way I could get a fair shake - on the roadside, in doping control, or the labs."

Three years later, Armstrong was 36 and itching to ride again.
He came back to finish third in the 2009 Tour de France.

Armstrong raced again in 2010 under the cloud of the federal investigation.
Early last year, he quit the sport for good, making a brief return as a triathlete until the USADA investigation shut him down.


During his sworn testimony in the dispute over the $5 million bonus, Armstrong said he wouldn't take drugs because he had too much to lose.

"(The) faith of all the cancer survivors around the world.
Everything I do off the bike would go away, too," Armstrong said then.
"And don't think for a second I don't understand that.
It's not about money for me. Everything.
It's also about the faith that people have put in me over the years.

So all of that would be erased."

 

With an important national election hanging in the balance who the (*)(*)(*)(*) cares about Lance Armstrong?

 

Bush & Romney are strong in this one ... pay attention.

 

Bush and Romney competed in the Tour de France?

Even if they did who cares?

 

So, the narrative is going to be that he was sponsored by Haliburton and Bain?

 

No one who is innocent just "gives up". It simply doesn't happen. They had the goods on him. It's not like real law where guilty please can be drawn through plea bargains and threat of the "book". Sad. People who do stuff like this taint the record books. Like Mark McGwire. But then again, so many athletes are on some form of steroids or supplements, that one might be inclined to support leagues dedicated for such types. What do you bet all of us would watch the steroid leagues and not give a (*)(*)(*)(*) about the others? That in itself speaks volumes, not only as to human behavior, but how harshly one should judge a person like Lance. Which is not very.

 

Good...I knew this cheater as a fake. He's all talk and no show. I could be a better cyclist than this cheating (*)(*)(*)(*). May he suffer for the rest of his pathetic life.

 

I say give him a trial. It seems that the Criminal investigation says one thing and the high and mighty appointees say something else.

Show the actual evidence or shut the hell up USADA!

It's a sick sad comment that anti american slugs would come on here and rejoice in the defamation of an american athlete.

Lance Armstrong has the right to face his accusers in this country, not be declared guilty by a (*)(*)(*)(*)ed tribunal of bureaucrats!

 

Well of course, it was all Bush's fault!

 

He is a dishonest individual who was found guilty by the appropriate authorities - stop trying to make this into a national issue. And if you had any respect for your country you would know that the adjective is American, not 'american'.

 

He has been found guilty no need for a trial. He is a cheater and every single record he made is now thrown out. I knew he was a fake. Im a better athlete than this lard ass.

 

You might be a better typist, but that's about it.

You'll be competing, of course, in the Tour De France to back up your claim here? ...or are you all talk as usual?



I'd like to see Serena Williams tested. She (he?) has ducked being tested in the past. She even (literally) ran away from a surprise test when an official showed up unannounced.

 

Lol....I'm gonna go out on a limb, and say that's highly doubtful.

 

Just what I would expect from a bowing Aussie.

 

You couldn't hold Lance Armstrong's jock strap, and he had testicular cancer.

 

Yeah, lets only discuss your election.

Great OP Exotic.

 

He was caught red handed taking steroids. That right there is a cold hard fact that he is not a real athlete and that he a cheater and a fraud. And he NEVER competed in the tour de France, not ever. His "competitions were right stripped away which means he NEVER competed. He is a fraud and a sad excuse for an alleged "athlete."

 

While I suspect Armstrong was probably doping, it was during an era where all main competitors also were doping, therefore a level-enough playing field was in place.

I wished there was no doping in cycling, but has always been there, even before the TdF. I believe post-Armstrong's era (including his main competitors of the day) that it is significantly cleaner, although Contador should be perma-banned.

Overall, I wanted, I wished to believe in Armstrong, I wanted him to be categorically proven inoccent, so that I could believe that this classic Alp Deuz climb was all his own work....

[video=youtube;F94TCxLYZew]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F94TCxLYZew[/video]

 

No you couldn't. If no one was doping, he'd still have been the greatest TdF rider of all time.

 

I agree it is just another anti west bit of BS.

reva

 

Parody (below in quote brackets)

Please spare me the witch hunt. Armstrong has accomplished more for humanity than his accusers will ever do, doped or not. France and their supporters including the USADA are just envious. I'm not saying that as a USA citizen. I am no fan of any government on earth. Not the USAs with their money loving greedy ways, nor the socialist communist countries of the east, not the pathetic puppets that think their revolution was their idea, (nothing has changed it’s still money and greed controlling them). My distrust and dislike of goverements extends to Theocracies, especially theocracies which are worse than all the above, at least in practice. I say that despite being a very religious person who’s paradigm (view or model or reality) is based on the concept of God etc.

reva

 

I was innocent. I gave up because sneaking off to court every three weeks was about to cost me my job and telling my employer about the arrest might have also cost me the job also.

 

How sad. I really believed in the guy, and always believed him when he said he was clean.
I just can't see however how you can give up fighting if you knew you were innocent.

Wow, all of those titles, gone.

 

Anyone who believed a TdF rider of that era and before was clean is either naive or doesn't know much about tour riding (no offence).

I wanted to believe, but ultimately it was a desire not based on logic.

And he still has his titles, the US government cannot strip him of TdF titles, only the UCI and/or the TdF can do that.