cycling USADA To Strip Lance Armstrong Of 7 Tour Titles

[Rappy Veteran]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? 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.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/lance-armstrong-banned-from-cycling_n_1826642.html

[Growled Member]

I use to admire him. How the mighty has fallen.

[Shane Nokes]

I use to admire him. How the mighty has fallen.

How did he fall? They haven't proven anything, and after years of harassment he finally just threw in the towel. He hasn't admitted to anything, NONE of their accusations have stuck.

He merely decided to just let them claim whatever they want. They also can't strip him of his titles either. The only authority that can has stated they back Lance & not the USADA.

So basically they are just throwing around accusations and acting like little children.

He's still the man who beat cancer, and won 7 times.

[Guest LiquidCrystalMeth]

No surprises really, no sane person thought he won even one of those fairly and cleanly.

Long overdue for him to be outed as fricking cheat.

[briangw]

Funny that no proof has appeared for this. Ironic too how this is a govt. organization and the same big govt. judicial system declined to step in.

[Shane Nokes]

No surprises really, no sane person thought he won even one of those fairly and cleanly.

Long overdue for him to be outed as fricking cheat.

Except he wasn't...

All the tests came back clean over the last 13-years with the exception of a single test in 1999, and that was due to a cream used for saddle sores. He fought it for years. He decided to focus on the charity work & his family instead of continuing to fight for even more additional years.

I can't blame him to be honest. Why keep fighting when their tactics were basically something that looked like this: :hump:

[ArialBlue]

Innocent until proven guilty, anyone?

[Cute James]

Lance Armstrong is a living legend, and a hero to many.

If the authorities are unable to provide any evidence of doping, his records, achievements, and integrity should remain untouched.

[Panda X]

No surprises really, no sane person thought he won even one of those fairly and cleanly.

Long overdue for him to be outed as fricking cheat.

'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.

Yeah, outed... :rolleyes:

[excalpius]

So far, all I can find is that the USADA has the testimony of one (anonymous) person. No failed tests. No physical evidence. Nothing.

I need a lot more than that before I throw in the towel on any man.

Anyone else have more info/evidence here?

Ironic too how this is a govt. organization and the same big govt. judicial system declined to step in.

The USADA is NOT a government organization.

And the judge in charge only said his court did not have jurisdiction. Which seems to happen a LOT when a given court...doesn't have jurisdiction...ahem.

[Ryoken]

I think he probably did dope.. or at least it wouldn't shock me in the least.. But with that said..

The USADA can't really do much.. it would be like Canada saying it's gonna take away the Stanley Cup from the LA Kings.. We can say it all we wan't, but we have no authority to do so..

[Shiranui]

The man came back from cancer. Even if the doping allegations were slightly true, they should cut Armstrong some slack.

[webdev511]

The USADA can't really do much.. it would be like Canada saying it's gonna take away the Stanley Cup from the LA Kings.. We can say it all we wan't, but we have no authority to do so..

Yeah I'm waiting for the ICU to say something like "Well USADA, do what you think you need to, but we won't strip titles based on hearsay. Bu-bye now."

[Rudy]

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

[vcfan]

these guys are on a witch hunt. really, until you have physical evidence,you can **** off.

[Yorak]

People jack their **** up in every single professional sport. Some just don't get caught.

[seta-san]

they just can't stand that a texan won frances little bike race.

[Nashy]

Giving up the fight. I see it as them having too much evidence. They must have something.

Dirty drug cheat. I had nothing but respect for him. Gone. Every last ounce of it.

[KingCracker]

Didn't he take like over 500 drug tests and all came up clean? This is all hear say... I guess American success doesn't come without punishment...Can't have an American win..Nope.. :rolleyes:

[S00N3R FR3AK]

I hope the major cycling body comes out and says **** off to them tomorrow. This is a joke of a witch hunt.

[Shiranui]

Didn't he take like over 500 drug tests and all came up clean? This is all hear say... I guess American success doesn't come without punishment...Can't have an American win..Nope.. :rolleyes:

So, and American organization doesn't want an American to win?

[Guest LiquidCrystalMeth]

To all the "but he came back from cancer and he's great" lunatics

Yeah, cause every person i know who has survived cancer has been so ultra fit they went on the worlds most gruelling bike race and won it 7 times

Its head out of arse time

Perhaps you think all the creatures in disney movies are real too :)

[macrosslover]

This is some bull****. How are you going to do this without ANY actual proof other than testimony of an anonymous witness they refuse to identify. If Lance doped and they find proof of it then so be it, do what you have to do. But don't try to take his titles because you feel he did something but can't prove it.

[Shane Nokes]

To all the "but he came back from cancer and he's great" lunatics

Yeah, cause every person i know who has survived cancer has been so ultra fit they went on the worlds most gruelling bike race and won it 7 times

Its head out of arse time

Perhaps you think all the creatures in disney movies are real too :)

Ok then...come up with some proof that he doped. Any proof...

Oh and just doing some googling for a few seconds returns TONS of stories of people who are recent cancer survivors doing all sorts of things like winning marathons and competing in Ironman competitions.

In fact here's a recent example, she's a marine who is now in an Ironman competition WHILE dying of cancer:

http://www.wtop.com/...s-Ironman-slot-

Yup, never happens... :rolleyes:

[theyarecomingforyou]

How did he fall? They haven't proven anything, and after years of harassment he finally just threw in the towel. He hasn't admitted to anything, NONE of their accusations have stuck.

He merely decided to just let them claim whatever they want. They also can't strip him of his titles either. The only authority that can has stated they back Lance & not the USADA.

Oh, please! Innocent people don't tend to stop contesting the charges against and it's a typical strategy for guilty people to run to the media with a conspiracy theory. I find it hard to believe that a major US agency would decide to make up charges against one of the most famous and successful US athletes just for the sake of it. Also, we're talking about 10 of his team mates willing to testify against him; if he's innocent and those people are all lying then it raises much bigger questions about the integrity of US professional cycling.

Could the accusations against Lance Armstrong be false? Of course. But that doesn't seem likely.