PCFormat Forum Archive

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — 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. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, he could lose other awards, event titles and cash earnings while the International Olympic Committee might look at the bronze medal he won in the 2000 Games.

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.

More

jamin_za wrote:He rode a bicycle and has one testicle.

Who cares...

Stuart wrote:You're just jealous 'cos he's fitter and has one more testicle than you.

D3PART3D wrote:

Pwn'd

Stuart wrote:You're just jealous 'cos he's fitter

GreyWolf wrote:

Stuart wrote:You're just jealous 'cos he's fitter

Aell according to the USADA, he is not actually fitter.

Stuart wrote:Than jamin?

Sojourn wrote:I don't get it.
Which drug test did he fail?
Where is the empirical evidence?
As I understand it they are basing it all on he-said she-said circumstantial evidence.

Nuke wrote:Even if it is true, what wrong with it?

The woman who destroyed a Spanish fresco by “restoring” it has offered to use her artistic skill to restore Lance Armstrong’s Tour De France titles. “I want to use my power for good,” said Cecilia Jimenez. “And I think Lance’s features are quite easy to replicate. Plus, there’s nothing that doping allegations can destroy that can’t be put right with a bit of brown acrylic.”

Jimenez said she has been “hugely encouraged” by the media coverage her painting has received since she transformed Jesus Christ into a howler monkey with a few deft brush strokes.

“The global mood is so bleak right now, I think there’s a real need for things to be restored,” said Jimenez, excitedly mixing up a fresh batch of mud-brown paint.

She said she has chosen Lance Armstrong’s career as her next restoration job because “he’s such a nice boy, and I am quite good making yellow circles and he wears a yellow circle on his brown hairy arm”.

She added that she also felt a special bond with him because he had had “lots of terrible accusations” levelled at him. “They’re saying horrible things about my restoration, like that it makes Our Lord look almost furry enough to be a Spanish woman, but I know that goodness and artistic talent will triumph.”

She said once she had restored Armstrong’s titles, she would try to restore the reputation of the Catholic church.

“The Mother Church keeps trying to use whitewash to restore itself,” she explained, adding that she had “some exciting ideas”, starting with the repainting for the Sistine Chapel, “in a variety of lovely earthy tones like mud, silt, muddy silt, and Vervet Monkey”.

According to Jimenez, she was looking forward to being commissioned to restore “all the other paintings that were done a bit crap”.

“Look, the Mona Lisa was a good try,” she said. “But if you think she’s enigmatic now, just wait until she’s got a beard and a crown of furry thorns.”

Source