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Lance Armstrong part of cycling's 'most successful doping program,' USADA says
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says it will release Wednesday more than 1,000 pages of evidence detailing the involvement of cyclist Lance Armstrong in what the agency calls "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
Armstrong, who won an unprecedented seven Tour de France titles, announced in August that he would no longer fight doping charges that the USADA brought against him earlier in the year. The famed cyclist's decision prompted the USADA to ban the 40-year-old athlete from competition and strip him of his wins dating to 1998, though there were questions of whether the organization had the authority to take such action.
The USADA filed doping charges against Armstrong in June. Armstrong retired from professional cycling in February 2011, though he continued to compete in triathlon events.
The USADA, a quasi-government agency recognized as the official anti-doping agency for Olympic, Pan American and Paralympic sports in the United States, accused Armstrong of using, possessing, trafficking and giving to others performance-enhancing drugs, as well as covering up doping violations.
Armstrong's attorney blasted the accusations as "wrong" and "baseless," much like Armstrong has vehemently denied other such claims in the past.
Armstrong, when he announced in August that he wouldn't fight the charges, said there was "zero physical evidence" to support the USADA's claims, and that he was "finished with this nonsense" of fighting charges after fighting against such allegations for years.
"The only physical evidence there is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors," Armstrong said in August. "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?"
On Wednesday, Armstrong's teammate George Hincape admitted he used banned substances.
"It is extremely difficult today to acknowledge that during a part of my career I used banned substances," Hincape said in a statement. "Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them. I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans."
August 26, 2012: Armstrong: 'I'm more at ease now than I have been in 10 years'
August 24, 2012: Armstrong's statement about ending fight against charges
August 24, 2012: Armstrong's cancer foundation still strong
Does this accusation by the The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency change your feelings about Armstrong? Share your reaction in the comments below.
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How many millions of taxpayer money did this take? What a waste......great job Obama
Wasn't Obama son get with the program its bs they went for him but they did like all stars they want the best to be legit and lance was shady with blood transfusions so...
yeah. because this has everything to do with Obama. wow. is ignorance bliss? or is unjustified and unconditional hate just how you roll?
I'll be your Huckleberry Karen... the USADA achieved Federal funding under the Obama Admin. So, combine that with the fact that a budget hasn't been passed since he's been President allowing the administration to spend money as it chooses instead of where Congress has agreed to, yea.... it's his fault. If he passed a budget saying he was funding the USADA for $10m, and Congress approved it, you could say that the blame was on the Feds instead of Obama.
Regardless, buck stops at desk. If he isn't going to have a budget to define where money goes, then it's his fault.
Wake up, Karen. Duane is pointing out how silly it is for big government lovers (like obama) to be sticking their noses into everything. It is okay to hate an ideology, especially when it has been so counterproductive.
THis been going on LONG before Obama who got OSAMA became our great president.
The hard part is trying to accept that bicycle riding is a sport. Adults racing each other on bicycles is kind of silly. And then you read that they also cheat. Comical.
I'm not a huge fan of watching cycling, but there is more athletic requirements for a 100 mile bike race than there is for an entire baseball team combined.....
Every single sport in existence can be broken down to "silliness". Hitting a ball with a bat and running, throwing a ball and tackling people, hitting a ball with a racket over a net, lifting up a stick with weights on it, etc.
The bottom line is that cycling takes a tremendous amount of physical effort and training, moreso than 99% of other sports. If you look at what the human body expends while cycling the Tour de France – it's amazing that a body can do that.
Can you ride a bike for long distance and maintain 20+ mph pace? just wondering. If you haven't then you don't know what you are talking about. Why is it any different than running or swimming? or golf for that matter?
you find ridiculousness in about almost any sport though. Boxing, Golf, Bowling, Fencing and on and on.
no sillier than posting your stupid opions on-line while I work to pay your unemployment
I played Jr High football and peewee baseball too, but to do it at a professional level is totally out of my ability. To imply that cycling is not a sport is very short sided. Yes, almost anybody can ride a bike but to ride a couple hundred miles a day through the Pyrenees at an average speed of 25mph for 3 weeks is a different story.
THen you would think that F1 car racing and the much lower form of car racing is silly too. After all is a machine doing the job LOL
You can be fat and still play baseball. That's a joke. At least cycling coaches keep their hands to themselves, unlike football or hockey.
No different than adults who (1) run, (2) drive, (3) climb, (4) walk, (5) bowl, (6) golf, (7) jump – all considered "sports".
The USADA is a joke, they have no evidence, all they have is hearsay. I hope they are on the chopping block of government programs to remove funding from.
NO evidence for his teammate Hincape yet he came out clean saying that he cheated all his life. GUess you missed that part , ha.
Still waiting to see if there is one positive drug test.
Like your buddy "Roger 'the PED man' Clemons", who gets off because of a technicality, but is still rotten to the bone.
Jim, perhaps Clemens learned it from the master, Bill Clinton.
Envy is ugly. Envious people are ugly people with out redeeming qualities. To shamelessly pursue and slander someone for years is not pretty. This agency should be disbanded and if public funds are used by them their funding should stop immediately.
Lets not forget the Texa*s state motto "Successu per fraudantes" or Success by Cheating, certainly native son and state booster Lance Armstrong lives by it.
But that would make him a liberal gimmedat!
Ya right, "convicted cheat" – 100's of clean blood tests, but we are supposed the take the word of admitted users who were caught. Nothing like a little governmental extortion! This agency is a joke – except it's not funny to destroy people's lives.
Yeah, everybody juiced but angelic hero Lance. Give me a break.
Sue did you read where his teammate Hincape came out saying that he also dope all the time? Yet he never got caught.
Sue lets say your son came on second all those yrs yet Lance got the glory, fame and $$$. Now your son is teaching at a small school that nobody ever heard of or out of work. How would you feel then knowing that a cheater took away all of that from your boy? Lance and many others did that to so many athletes yet they got away , kept the glory, trophy and all the $$$$.
Stories like this are 'divide and conquer' meant to distract you away from real truths....look around you, folks.
What a pathological lying 'hero.' I remember when another lying hero called him to congratulate this victor even with the cloud of 'doubt' surrounding the victory at the time. Bush and Armstrong are a pair of lying losers.
I guess we'll find out if there's any hard evidence or if its just all just accusations by people who were caught cheating.
Well said, but I would add Texan to that, it fits so very well.
His own riding mates told media they'd seen him cheating. So its not unlikely to be true, like 'yellow cake' false evidence against Bush's war.
If Armstrong and Bush are liars, obama and the lying liberals must really draw your ire.
jcpat: lol exactly.. they do indeed.. but I dunno.. Obama is more of a passive liar.. Bush is more of a bold-faced liar.
The real question we should be asking. Did the doping help cure his cancer?
That is an good question and perhaps the only positive fallout from his cheating if so. Cancer hates oxygen and dies in oxygen sustained/saturated environments - and doping is generally all about oxygen in cause or effect.
Cancer hates oxygen? What a load of tripe.
Ineed the same EPOs he's being blamed of 'abusing' are also prescribed to patients battling cancer via chemotherapy. One is called "epoetin alfa"
jcpat: tripe? Please don't show you were raised on a farm by demonstrating you know nothing about oncological vulnerabilities. lol
i have no use for lance armstrong; riding bicycles is for children. however, for an agency to provide as "evidence" reams of papers yet exclude over 500 sanctioned drug tests, all which attest to armstrong's assertion he never used steroids, is absurd.
no one bemoans the use of estrogen in women, however the use of testosterone in men (and women) is decried from on high. people/athletes use steriods because they work.
the use of anabolic steroids should be at the discretion of the user; certainly not the discretion of a quasi-governmental agency.
Biking is for children? You sound like your a very physically fit couch potato. Some of the towns and cities in this country actually have a lot of people that commute to work on a bike, such as myself. You ignorance has been noted. Thank you, try again.
I dislike Lance Armstrong very much and don't doubt that he probably used illegal performance enhancing substances, but this USADA needs to be put back in their place. They are toally overreaching. Just like every government or quasi government organization, it is continual power grab without any bounds. Cut off USADA funding NOW.
No hard proof. No tangible evidence. No video evidence. Just plenty of unsubstantiated accusations and a government agency with an agenda. Keep in mind, we now live in a country where personal success and soaring achievement is punished and penalized.
Unless and until they can produce a sample of doped blood or urin from Armstrong – he didn't do it.
USADA is a waste of money. Leave Lance and all other athletes alone. Let them compete by taking any suppliments they want. Then we will finally have a level playing field. Why have a contest if the USADA is going to pick their own winners and losers anyway.
USADA LAZZYYYYY.....
They showed up LATE WORK.... VERY VERY VERY LATE WORK and took them years and years to find out his doping.
Olypmics takes about second to find out who is doping.
YOU FUNDED USADA TAX DOLLARS. You got ROBBED .....
yes...
yes