Lance Armstrong to lose Tour de France titles, be banned for life after ending defense

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 to 2005.

aol.sportingnews.com... uld-lose-tour-de-france-tit?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk1%26pLid%3D196450

Wow! just WOW

This is a very sad day for hope.I have held his accomplishments in very high regard for many years.I mean who can't remember a time when you just wanted to give up and you think of his miracle.This is the act of a very sick system. I really do feel like someone is trying to destroy all the hope in this world.

Never the less what this man did will not soon be forgotten and it can not be erased by some bureaucratic pushes for loss of freedoms.

Lets get this straight .A man got cancer and in spite of doctors telling him to give up he decided to ignore them and went on to set records that are so profound when perceived they give hopeless people a feeling of being able to overcome adversity.So "officals" of government seek to destroy his records and claim that he must have been on some type of drug.

It is really a sick system of world govenrment cooperation in place now.
Look out Mr. Phelps

What say you ATS?

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

www.huffingtonpost.com... -ban-from-cycling_n_1826642.html
www.usatoday.com... 23/Armstrong-doping-charges/57258616/1

Bottom line is he cheated, and the things he took were not for anything related to his cancer treatment, obviously. I am glad they caught the fraud, and maybe someday that sport will be cleaned up but I doubt it.

Originally posted by theknuckler
Bottom line is he cheated, and the things he took were not for anything related to his cancer treatment, obviously. I am glad they caught the fraud, and maybe someday that sport will be cleaned up but I doubt it.

There's still no proof he cheated. If you could kindly post some as evidence, that would be great. Until then, stating it isn't really fair or just. His withdrawing from the arbitration case isn't an admission of guilt.

Lawyers for Armstrong contend the USADA gathered evidence by threatening to ruin the careers of fellow cyclists who have agreed to testify against him. Armstrong's lawyers also argue that the agency's rules violate his right to a fair trial and that it lacks proper jurisdiction to charge him.

In February, the Justice Department dropped an investigation centered on whether Armstrong and his teammates cheated the sponsor of their bike racing team, the U.S. Postal Service, with a secret doping program.

Armstrong's attorneys contend that he has "passed every drug test ever administered to him in his career - a total of 500 to 600 tests... more drug tests than any athlete in history."

Source

I think we're watching a man lose everything he worked his entire life for and dedicated himself too....and without a shred of evidence ever produced or a single failed test ever shown to support the endless allegations. This is a story I've been following off and on for quite some time and he got screwed by the same Government we complain about here every day.

His most compelling argument beyond the flat lack of evidence of any kind (that they have ever actually SHOWN anyone outside their own claims) is that his career and performance curve never measurably changed or jumped in any radical way to show or even suggest the introduction of performance enhancing drugs. Ever.

He's just DAMNED good...or was...and couldn't help but keep winning. It pissed people off and they got rid of him. Directly.... I don't blame the man, the fight has been going on forever in his life and every time it looked liked he might have crested the rise and beat the empty charges, a new agency or set of charges would come fresh to start it all over again. It was never going to stop.

I feel for him.. I really do. How would everyone else feel if a life time spent truly mastering something was ripped from you by pencil pushers who'd be lucky to ride a bike around the block, let alone know anything about the hard core world of high level professional sports? The Cycling sport lost a good man when they rain him out of it on a rail.

reply to post by deadeyedick


All the more reason to legalize performance enhancing drugs, and to speak on the same issue...

All drugs.

Our war on drugs is actually a ridiculous war on some drugs, and it is totally ineffective.

The fact that one day he is remembered as a hero and another day a cheat is absurd.
He came back from cancer.
At best, the PEDS put him on the same level as anyone else.

Make it all legal and let consenting adults make adult freaking decisions.

Originally posted by theknuckler
Bottom line is he cheated, and the things he took were not for anything related to his cancer treatment, obviously. I am glad they caught the fraud, and maybe someday that sport will be cleaned up but I doubt it.

He cheated but I wonder how much of an advantage he really had considering the notion most probably cheat. I dunno..

Seriously?

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

Lawyers for Armstrong contend the USADA gathered evidence by threatening to ruin the careers of fellow cyclists who have agreed to testify against him. Armstrong's lawyers also argue that the agency's rules violate his right to a fair trial and that it lacks proper jurisdiction to charge him.

In February, the Justice Department dropped an investigation centered on whether Armstrong and his teammates cheated the sponsor of their bike racing team, the U.S. Postal Service, with a secret doping program.

Armstrong's attorneys contend that he has "passed every drug test ever administered to him in his career - a total of 500 to 600 tests... more drug tests than any athlete in history."

Source

I think we're watching a man lose everything he worked his entire life for and dedicated himself too....and without a shred of evidence ever produced or a single failed test ever shown to support the endless allegations. This is a story I've been following off and on for quite some time and he got screwed by the same Government we complain about here every day.

His most compelling argument beyond the flat lack of evidence of any kind (that they have ever actually SHOWN anyone outside their own claims) is that his career and performance curve never measurably changed or jumped in any radical way to show or even suggest the introduction of performance enhancing drugs. Ever.

He's just DAMNED good...or was...and couldn't help but keep winning. It pissed people off and they got rid of him. Directly.... I don't blame the man, the fight has been going on forever in his life and every time it looked liked he might have crested the rise and beat the empty charges, a new agency or set of charges would come fresh to start it all over again. It was never going to stop.

I feel for him.. I really do. How would everyone else feel if a life time spent truly mastering something was ripped from you by pencil pushers who'd be lucky to ride a bike around the block, let alone know anything about the hard core world of high level professional sports? The Cycling sport lost a good man when they rain him out of it on a rail.

I watched every moment of each and every win. I also have them on DVD. Read his books and followed his career since he was with Motorola. He came back from his illness as a different racer, both physiologically and emotionally. He was always strong, but he was also headstrong. He learned to contain his emotions and learned how to be a winner. The guy had to piss for testing, at a moments notice, anywhere in the world he happened to be, and they did just that to him and he never failed - not once. With all that said, who knows? Maybe he knew how to cheat as well as he knew how to win. But I would first need proof to believe it. It's always been innuendo and it's still just that. They should either put up the goods or leave the guy alone.

Just goes to show that pretty much everything and everyone we idolize seems to have this dark twist within it's nature.

The only thing ever found in his urine was something that the body produces naturally.

Also called hematopoietin or hemopoietin, it is produced by interstitial fibroblasts in the kidney in close association with peritubular capillary and tubular epithelial cells. It is also produced in perisinusoidal cells in the liver. While liver production predominates in the fetal and perinatal period, renal production is predominant during adulthood. Erythropoietin is the hormone that regulates red blood cell production. It also has other known biological functions. For example, erythropoietin plays an important role in the brain's response to neuronal injury.[1] EPO is also involved in the wound healing process.[2]

en.wikipedia.org...

On August 23, 2005, L'Équipe, a major French daily sports newspaper, reported on its front page under the headline "le mensonge Armstrong" ("The Armstrong Lie") that 6 urine samples taken from the cyclist during the prologue and five stages of the 1999 Tour de France, frozen and stored since at "Laboratoire national de dépistage du dopage de Châtenay-Malabry" (LNDD), had tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) in recent retesting conducted as part of a research project into EPO testing methods.[93][94] Armstrong immediately replied on his website, saying, "Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow's article is nothing short of tabloid journalism. The paper even admits in its own article that the science in question here is faulty and that I have no way to defend myself. They state: 'There will therefore be no counter-exam nor regulatory prosecutions, in a strict sense, since defendant's rights cannot be respected.' I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs."[95] In October 2008, the AFLD gave Armstrong the opportunity to have samples taken during the 1998 and 1999 Tours de France retested.[96] Armstrong immediately refused, saying, "the samples have not been maintained properly." Head of AFLD Pierre Bordry stated: "Scientifically there is no problem to analyze these samples – everything is correct" and "If the analysis is clean it would have been very good for him. But he doesn't want to do it and that's his problem."[97]

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by yourmaker
Just goes to show that pretty much everything and everyone we idolize seems to have this dark twist within it's nature.

You do realize that he was stripped of his titles wit ZERO factual evidence right? All this was done with the hearsay of another biker....NEVER ONCE DID HE FAIL A TEST FOR PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS. Sad day it is when you can be proven guilty without evidence.

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy

Originally posted by theknuckler
Bottom line is he cheated, and the things he took were not for anything related to his cancer treatment, obviously. I am glad they caught the fraud, and maybe someday that sport will be cleaned up but I doubt it.

He cheated but I wonder how much of an advantage it really have him considering the notion most probably cheat. I dunno..

this isnt even a notion. Anyone who thinks most pro athletes at that level are clean is out of their mind.

reply to post by deadeyedick


The link is not working (404).

If he's clean, why is he allowing this?

Tennis is different. Agassi used meth and kissed his reflection in one trophy after another. Later, he wrote a book about it.

Originally posted by kyviecaldges
reply to post by deadeyedick

 

All the more reason to legalize performance enhancing drugs, and to speak on the same issue...

All drugs.

Our war on drugs is actually a ridiculous war on some drugs, and it is totally ineffective.

The fact that one day he is remembered as a hero and another day a cheat is absurd.
He came back from cancer.
At best, the PEDS put him on the same level as anyone else.

Make it all legal and let consenting adults make adult freaking decisions.

edit on 23/8/2012 by kyviecaldges because: (no reason given)

I agree. I've been cycling for 20 plus years and following the sport longer. I've always said they should just let them use what they want and may the better doper win. I mean if you cannot stop it, then let them do it and be done with it. Doping is an unofficial tradition in cycling. From smoking cigarettes to drinking Coke that was laced with coke, during a race, in order to get what they thought was a boost, it's all been done. When Tom Simpson died on Mont Ventoux they decided to put some measures in to prevent other deaths. Then they started testing. These guys in all sports at the highest levels and even in college feel compelled to enhance their performance. I;m sure they know the risks and if they want to take them, well testing isn't going to stop them. They'll always find a way to beat the tests.

Originally posted by deadeyedick
The only thing ever found in his urine was something that the body produces naturally.

It doesn't help the overwhelming baseless condemnation if you post facts. This is a witch hunt. No need to drag in verifiable evidence to the contrary to repute unfounded claims!

sheesh.....

Originally posted by SLAYER69

Originally posted by deadeyedick
The only thing ever found in his urine was something that the body produces naturally.

It doesn't help the overwhelming baseless condemnation if you post facts. This is a witch hunt. No need to drag in variable evidence to the contrary to repute unfounded claims!

sheesh.....

edit on 24-8-2012 by SLAYER69 because: (no reason given)

I see your point.
I just think it's good to lay out all the facts as they come to me.

Originally posted by kyviecaldges
reply to post by deadeyedick

 

All the more reason to legalize performance enhancing drugs,

Just my uninformed opinion, but for what it's worth: Why is it right for someone with more naturally occurring aggressive chemicals in the body to have an edge over those with less of these naturally occurring biological chemicals?

Should there be tests done where a person can be disqualified for his body producing more testosterone than the testosterone being produced in his opponents? Why should the line be drawn between the natural chemicals being produced under the skin, and the needle-full of chemicals hovering over the skin?

I just don't know.

reply to post by jiggerj

In the quest for 100%, total and absolute equality in every imaginable sense, your point about the natural testosterone makes sense.

Where would that end though and why go there is my point of curiosity? How many traits make up each person which can be looked at, picked apart and determined to be "A Factor" in fair play? It just seems to me that by the time that played out to it's logical conclusions, we'd end up with a society so medically and genetically segregated in sports and elsewhere...we'd wonder what ever happened?

Seems to me none of this mattered before they were able to see how bodies worked and surely people had imbalances like this before now.....life went on and sports seemed to have worked out. lol.. Drugs/doping aside, it seems our medical genius can create a world of nightmares as easily as miracles if not kept in check.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by jiggerj

 

In the quest for 100%, total and absolute equality in every imaginable sense, your point about the natural testosterone makes sense.

Where would that end though and why go there is my point of curiosity? How many traits make up each person which can be looked at, picked apart and determined to be "A Factor" in fair play? It just seems to me that by the time that played out to it's logical conclusions, we'd end up with a society so medically and genetically segregated in sports and elsewhere...we'd wonder what ever happened?

Seems to me none of this mattered before they were able to see how bodies worked and surely people had imbalances like this before now.....life went on and sports seemed to have worked out. lol.. Drugs/doping aside, it seems our medical genius can create a world of nightmares as easily as miracles if not kept in check.

Well, can someone be disqualified for eating healthy fruits and vegetables when his opponents eat fats? Isn't the mere act of eating a means to incorporate chemicals into the body, and/or to enable the body to produce more of certain chemicals? What would be the difference between eating certain chemicals and injecting them?

Come to think of it, Are there certain foods forbidden when in competitions?

Check this guy out.
He seems to have a natural unfair advantage.