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View Full Version : Lance Armstrong to have titles stripped, banned for life



steelerdude15
08-23-2012, 09:57 PM
Lance Armstrong banned for life

AUSTIN, Texas -- U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart says the agency will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his seven Tour de France titles for doping.

Armstrong on Thursday night dropped any further challenges to USADA's allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win cycling's premier event from 1999-2005.

Armstrong says USADA doesn't have the authority to vacate his Tour titles. However, Tygart told The Associated Press that USADA can do it.

Tygart called the Armstrong case a "heartbreaking" example of a win-at-all costs approach to sports.

Armstrong, who retired last year, declined to enter arbitration -- 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 that he has passed as proof of his innocence.

Read More: http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/8298135/usada-ban-lance-armstrong-life-strip-seven-tour-de-france-titles-charges-used-performance-enhancing-drugs-unprecedented-cycling-career

It just makes you wonder since he's stopping the fight, if he really did use. Now, I'm not saying he's guilty, just wondering.

polamalubeast
08-23-2012, 10:28 PM
wow

Devilsdancefloor
08-23-2012, 10:49 PM
to be honest he has fought these allegations for a long time and that just gets old and costly, so i would still stand behind him since NONE of his test came back postitive

suitanim
08-24-2012, 11:21 AM
This is a strange one.

Since basically everyone in the sport dopes, he was either A) Extremely clever and still better than everyone, since everyone dopes or, B) The most amazing athlete ever because he didn't need to dope to beat everyone else who was.

I'd like to believe that he doesn't. At this point, though, no one will ever know.

ALLD
08-24-2012, 12:39 PM
He is retired and could care less. Think what you want, he already banged Cheryl Crow.

oneforthetoe
08-24-2012, 01:47 PM
I have always admired Armstrong. He is an amazing athlete. Even if he did dope it is amazing winning 7 times at the most prestigious race, given that most of his competitors were also cheating. Of course, if it was proven he did cheat then he should have faced the consequences like everyone else. The part that makes this so hard is that TdF officials and USADA have had such a hard on to get him over the years that it is difficult to see who the good guys are.

Craic
08-24-2012, 02:12 PM
I still have to wonder however, what authority the USADA has over Armstrong. The cycling team he was a part of was not an U.S. Olympic team. The metals he won was not out of a U.S. sport nor won due to U.S. Govt. sponsorship. So what authority, exactly, do they have? It seems like they're a watchdog group that only has teeth when it comes to sports and teams under the control of the U.S. government (i.e. professional sports and olympic teams).

stillers4me
08-24-2012, 03:38 PM
He's a cancer survivor which makes him a winner in my book.

GBMelBlount
08-24-2012, 04:18 PM
Guilty until proven innocent.

Nice....

Godfather
08-24-2012, 06:08 PM
to be honest he has fought these allegations for a long time and that just gets old and costly, so i would still stand behind him since NONE of his test came back postitive

I agree. Coming up dirty has always been the standard, and it seems like the USADA is just making up the rules as it goes along.

Even if he doped at some point in his career, he was provably clean during each Tour de France he won and at the Olympics.

Count Steeler
08-24-2012, 06:28 PM
How the hell can this be? Am I missing something?

As far as I know, Lance never tested positive. Do they have an eyewitness that saw Lance using drugs?

How can they jump to the conclusion of guilt if Lance is sick and tired of their witch hunt? The onus is on the USADA to have PROOF of guilt and not the supposition of guilt just because Lance doesn't want to play their game any longer.

Innocent until PROVEN guilty.

edit: BTW, I used the phrase "witch hunt" before I fully read the article.

Craic
08-24-2012, 06:46 PM
"Innocent until PROVEN guilty."

We use this often. However, that only pertains to law, not to culture or authorities outside of the criminal legal system. It doesn't even pertain to the legal system in civil law. There, it only has to be proved that you were 51% potentially at fault with someone else experiencing a loss.

So the dictum doesn't really apply. Either way however, I still think it sucks for him.

Count Steeler
08-24-2012, 06:56 PM
"Innocent until PROVEN guilty."

We use this often. However, that only pertains to law, not to culture or authorities outside of the criminal legal system. It doesn't even pertain to the legal system in civil law. There, it only has to be proved that you were 51% potentially at fault with someone else experiencing a loss.

So the dictum doesn't really apply. Either way however, I still think it sucks for him.

What are they basing their judgment on? NO positive tests. NO eyewitness testimony. Just the supposition that the whole sport is dirty? If that is the case, then the Olympic movement should cease and desist.

When Ben Johnson lost his Gold Medal way back when, the WHOLE field eventually admitted or were found to be dirty as well. Where was the action on Carl Lewis and the rest of the sprinters?

Lance NEVER tested positive. He is owed a presumption of innocence until there are FACTS to the contrary.

zulater
08-24-2012, 07:38 PM
What are they basing their judgment on? NO positive tests. NO eyewitness testimony. Just the supposition that the whole sport is dirty? If that is the case, then the Olympic movement should cease and desist.

When Ben Johnson lost his Gold Medal way back when, the WHOLE field eventually admitted or were found to be dirty as well. Where was the action on Carl Lewis and the rest of the sprinters?

Lance NEVER tested positive. He is owed a presumption of innocence until there are FACTS to the contrary.

There's all kinds of eye witness evidence against him. As I understand it virtually every one of his former teammates have made sworn statements implicating him in various forms of blood doping, epo usage etc...

Of course he used performance enhancers! Grow up folks. In his era they all used, he just used better and never came up positive.

Look I have nothing against him. The sport was to blame. I mean if you throw a pool party in a cess pool you can't blame the guests for stinking. So of course Lance cheated, as did everyone behind him. So in the end he was still the best and deserves credit for winning.

Now going forward if they can clean it up, that's great. But you can't change the past. Cheating was the rule of the day back then, everyone knew it, but did nothing to stop it. So they need to leave it alone.

GBMelBlount
08-24-2012, 08:07 PM
So now the number two guys that also all tested clean are the new champions until their jealous teammates proclaim they cheated.

FUBAR

Polamalu Princess
08-24-2012, 08:43 PM
Something smells here. I will stand behind him until it is proven that his is guilty.

GBMelBlount
08-24-2012, 08:49 PM
Something smells here. I will stand behind him until it is proven that his is guilty.

I think it is Zu's party but the point is relevant. It sounds like it is the nature of the beast...


zulater

I mean if you throw a pool party in a cess pool you can't blame the guests for stinking.

zulater
08-25-2012, 12:03 AM
So now the number two guys that also all tested clean are the new champions until their jealous teammates proclaim they cheated.

FUBAR

Not necessarily. The wins could just be vacated entirely.

pepsyman1
08-25-2012, 12:44 AM
Five HUNDRED drug tests and never failed one. It WHAT world does that qualify for losing 7 titles to a decision by bureaucrats?

fansince'76
08-25-2012, 12:55 AM
Five HUNDRED drug tests and never failed one. It WHAT world does that qualify for losing 7 titles to a decision by bureaucrats?

A jealous one. The French never did cotton to Armstrong dominating "their race" for the better part of a decade.

GBMelBlount
08-25-2012, 06:28 AM
Not necessarily. The wins could just be vacated entirely.

I did not know this. Thanks.

suitanim
08-25-2012, 07:13 AM
I heard a unique take on this, and it would constitute "C" in my first post.

If there was NO doping, and all things were equal, Lance Armstrong still would have won all 7 titles, so............
He either doped along with everyone else and won, he DID NOT dope while everyone else WAS, and won, and if there was no doping, he would have won anyway, so, what's to strip?

GBMelBlount
08-25-2012, 07:20 AM
Good point.

I would imagine this makes his teammates and other competitors who are steeped in cycle envy, feel better.

ALLD
08-25-2012, 07:23 AM
He still has the moniker of being the first man on the moon.

SCSTILLER
08-26-2012, 12:29 AM
He still has the moniker of being the first man on the moon.

Funny you said that because I actually had that yelled at me out of a big redneck pickup truck on a ride one day. Me and a buddy were cruising down this road and this big ole pickemup truck pulls up next to us and the idiot driver yelled "Who you think you are, Neil Armstrong?" and then took off. I almost went off the road because I started laughing so hard.

As for Lance and the accusations, I don't know what to beleive. He has passed thousands of drug tests and has not had a dirty one, or has not been caught. I also laugh when former teammates implicate him in using PED's. The ones that have made the implications are the ones who have been busted themselves and are trying to get lesser punishments. Also, during this years tour a Belgian newspaper reported that numerous active riders were going to testify against him, but it turns out the story was false and many of the so called testifiers went on TV saying that they had no plans to do so. Personally, this is a shitty thing to happen to Lance. He was by far the strongest and best rider during his heyday, and another thing that no one is taking into consideration is that he always had the strongest team. The team was responsible for keeping Armstrong safe throughout the race and doing damage to other competitors. When the big climbs started, and those were Lance's specialty, he always had two or three teammates left to drag back attacks and help Lance up the mountain as far as they could while the other competitors were on their own.