USDA v. Lance Armstrong

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  • ETM

    Tired of the witch hunt, Lance Armstrong calls it quits in fight against doping charges. They assume that means guilt, without proof. He just wants to stop fighting in court.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/2…

    Strips all 7 Tour de France titles
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com…

  • prophetone0

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture is after this guy? Crazy.

    • USADA... eat a dick.ETM
    • :DETM
    • that's not nice yoprophetone
    • If QBN was a functional forum, I would correct that typo in the title.ETM
    • @prophetone
      Sorry, 'roid rage.
      ETM
  • mg330

    I don't see how the USADA can take away the titles. It kind of sucks that he's giving up, because sadly it's going to prove his guilt once and for all in the minds of those who have always thought he's guilty, despite any evidence at all.

    • My understanding is that there is evidence.waterhouse
  • mg330

    A really good read, just not sure when it's from, but probably within the past couple of years.

    http://www.bicycling.com/news/pr…

  • Llyod0

    banned for life? his career is already over.

    • he's older, but his career is def. not over.lvl_13
    • he retired.eficks
    • ahaha...well then. i digress :Dlvl_13
    • He has a triathlon career.Presta
  • lvl_130

    pretty sad. not sure how to take it. i get the getting tired of the board going after him and trying to continue the fight...a fight that seems impossible to win, and countless funds/time wasted trying to prove them wrong.

    i don't know enough info to give an opinion one way or the other...but wouldn't the tests prove one way or the other within an instance? or am i missing the obvious?

  • albums0

    But a federal judge this week dismissed Armstrong's lawsuit after finding that the court did not have jurisdiction.

    "If these bodies wish to damage the image of their sport through bitter infighting, they will have to do so without the involvement of the United States courts," Sparks said.

  • BusterBoy0

    99% of professional riders are on the gear anyway...make it a level playing field and let them all take whatever the hell they want and stop the charade.

    After this case, you wonder why they even bother with drug tests...if you have never failed a single test but still get busted, what's the point?

    • this is exactly what i think. how are the young guys going to view this, damned if you do damned if you don't so...prophetone
    • Busted? He didn't get busted. He quit fighting because he's been fighting these charges and trials his entire life.Presta
    • Spending all his money on lawyers, away from his kids. Charges after charges. How does one not get tired of this?Presta
    • Busted as in found guilty. His decision to no longer fight is seen as an admission by USADABusterBoy
    • Seen as an admission by the USADA? Do you know who the USADA are? It's been a witchhunt since day one.Presta
    • Just because he stopped fighting does not mean he's guilty. This was a huge emotional and financial toll on Lance.Presta
    • him.Presta
  • 20020

    one ball, ONE BALL

  • SrSamaurai0

    It's like a hoppity hop

  • i_was0

  • Presta0

    Lance Armstong's Statement of August 23, 2012
    AUSTIN, Texas - August 23rd, 2012 - There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. 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.
    I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA’s charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA’s motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.
    If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?
    From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs. I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own 8-year limitation. As respected organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges. The international bodies governing cycling have ordered USADA to stop, have given notice that no one should participate in USADA’s improper proceedings, and have made it clear the pronouncements by USADA that it has banned people for life or stripped them of their accomplishments are made without authority. And as many others, including USADA’s own arbitrators, have found, there is nothing even remotely fair about its process. USADA has broken the law, turned its back on its own rules, and stiff-armed those who have tried to persuade USADA to honor its obligations. At every turn, USADA has played the role of a bully, threatening everyone in its way and challenging the good faith of anyone who questions its motives or its methods, all at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. For the last two months, USADA has endlessly repeated the mantra that there should be a single set of rules, applicable to all, but they have arrogantly refused to practice what they preach. On top of all that, USADA has allegedly made deals with other riders that circumvent their own rules as long as they said I cheated. Many of those riders continue to race today.
    The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced. The idea that athletes can be convicted today without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves. It’s an unfair approach, applied selectively, in opposition to all the rules. It’s just not right.
    USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. 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. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart.
    Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. 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. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.

    • Couldn't get past the first paragraph. What a slippery, horrible human being.pig
    • (re-reading in Jan 2013)pig
  • sine0

    ^ yep. never tested positive once in his career. meanwhile riders who have tested positive and/or admitted to doping are still cycling (even during the last tour de france).

    i don't understand why they would do this to one of their countries greatest athletes.

  • lambsy0

    it's the perfect cop-out by the USADA. After decades of witchhunting, they simply broke him down so they can say he was guilty all along. Whoever is in charge must really hate him or be jealous of him.

    -Hatred of the good for being the good-

  • lowimpakt0

    "Thinking of taking up cycling... Just found out I've won as many Tour De France's as Lance Armstrong."

  • pango0

    that's right! take that over achiever!

  • ahli0

    the old addage: 'no smoke without fire' comes to mind
    having read article linked by mg33, too many times it was 50/50, his word against someone else'

    • and 500 negative drug tests over decades.lambsy
  • GeorgesII0

    LEAVE LANCE ALONE

  • flashbender0

    the thing that bugs me about this is that you've got guys like Hincapie and Landis who were busted saying that Armstrong was on the same shit as them... well if they were caught why wasn't Armstrong?

    The whole situation is sad and strikes me as a mid-level bureaucrat's attempt to make a name for himself.

  • crillix0

    A report on the radio this morning talked about the fact that he will no longer fight the USDA is a sign that he probably doesn't think he could win and that this compromises everything the man worked for including the Livestrong foundation. He went on to mention about how the site shows up for hundreds of medical terms in search engines and hinted ever so slightly at its creditability. Lance stood as the guy who beat cancer, the reporter said, he is no longer that guy. Wait he didn't beat cancer either? son of a.....

    • what are you talking about? did you read his statement?sine
    • Its a bit of sarcasm pointed at the reporters and their blood in the water mentality.crillix
    • Those where the things the report said or eluded to this morning... I think its pretty absurd.crillix
    • I wish he kept fighting the good fight but I don't blame him for wanting to move on.crillix
  • mg330

    Why are all these news stories saying he's been stripped of his titles? That has not happened yet.

    • It's just the media dramatizing it. The writers are clueless about cycling and it's governing bodies.Presta