USADA bans Lance Armstrong for life, stripped of tour titles *Merge*

[ShiningStar]

This is the USA and they are the USADA who are funded by the US government. In the USA you are innocent until proven guilty. Someone needs to *****-slap these guys. They are stepping way over their bounds.

well that goes to prove it, the USA hates successful people. Yet Lance threw tons of coverage and media at cancer research, but really lets hurt this guy.

Everyone dopes, everyone, so the playing field is still even. Im not saying its a good thing, but face facts people, no one likes boring winners. You just cant win for the sake of winning, there has to be a story, or something you did, or something you hate, and the media hates boring people.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Sounds like denial

Denial? What proof do they have? It sounds like THEY are in denial.

 

[mldardy]

Denial? What proof do they have? It sounds like THEY are in denial.

Plenty of proof obviously.

 

[Mash]

If he cheated then how can you call Lance a great athlete?

Its like baseball.....take Performance enhancing drugs to break home run records and then proclaim them a great athletes?

I just dont know......Lance fought cancer....that is great.....but if he did take any performance enhancing drugs....then he should be banned....or taken those titles away from him.

The question is.....is there any proof?

It doesnt matter if every cyclists used drugs......it stil doesnt make it right.

It may be a witch hunt....or whatever....I dont know.

But if he cheated....in any way....I dont care how....or why......then he is no better then all the other cheaters in sports.......and being a spokesmen for cancer and all the good things he has done....shouldnt blind us from the fact he may be a cheater.

Sorry.....I dont have any tolerance for cheaters.....I hate it when I play a friendly game of cards and I especially hate it when you create rules to make everything a even playing field...and someone goes out of their way to cheat so they can succeed....and get paid.

Again....JMHO

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Why do so many people worship this guy?

And why do they think the USADA would unfairly decide to target the most famous US cyclist in history? What would be their motivation?

Like one article said, there are more eyewitness reports and other evidence that Armstrong doped than that Barry Bonds did.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Plenty of proof obviously.

Yes? Please lay that physical proof out. Don't give me any he said, she said. You have to have proof.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Why do so many people worship this guy?

And why do they think the USADA would unfairly decide to target the most famous US cyclist in history? What would be their motivation?

Like one article said, there are more eyewitness reports and other evidence that Armstrong doped than that Barry Bonds did.

Worship? No, I wouldn't say that's it. The problem is they have no proof that he *EVER* did anything. They just have people saying it did it, yet none of them can prove it. If you didn't know. Lance wasn't a well liked person due to his extreme ego. Just because you have an ego, doesn't make you guilty.

Floyd Landis DID test positive. Then after testing positive, he starts yelling that Lance did too, but he has never been able to produce a single shred of evidence. Lance Armstrong has pasted HUNDREDS of tests. The same tests Floyd Landis and many many others couldn't.

Explain?

How do you strip someone of their accomplishments just because someone who is already known to be dirty and a liars says he did, but can't offer any proof?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

This is and always was a witch hunt. ***hats mongering for media coverage.

btw, who is the USADA to say they can strip anyone of titles they have no control over? Especially when they have no evidence.

I read that when the cycling union signed on to USADA, they agreed that USADA could strip the titles.

Now there is talk about USADA stripping him of a 2000 bronze medal he won in Sydney. There is allegedly an 8 year limit to stripping medals but if they take that, I hope USADA then goes after Carl Lewis, the British go after Linford Christie etc.

That being said, if you take away Lance's seven titles, who do you give them to, how do you know second place winners were "clean"?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Worship? No, I wouldn't say that's it. The problem is they have no proof that he *EVER* did anything. They just have people saying it did it, yet none of them can prove it. If you didn't know. Lance wasn't a well liked person due to his extreme ego. Just because you have an ego, doesn't make you guilty.

Floyd Landis DID test positive. Then after testing positive, he starts yelling that Lance did too, but he has never been able to produce a single shred of evidence. Lance Armstrong has pasted HUNDREDS of tests. The same tests Floyd Landis and many many others couldn't.

Explain?

How do you strip someone of their accomplishments just because someone who is already known to be dirty and a liars says he did, but can't offer any proof?

Floyd Landis hated being Lance's,,,, I guess. You are right, he denied using all along, then once admitted, oh Lance did too.

 

[a_minimalist]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...7608112651269078.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

"Lance Armstrong was stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles late Thursday after he refused to fight allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

Lance Armstrong refused to pursue doping allegations, which hinge on witness testimony. Who are the witnesses and is their testimony credible?

Mr. Armstrong notified the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that he wouldn't fight the charges the agency brought against him in June, a move that, according to USADA, immediately strips him of all of his athletic titles going back to Aug. 1, 1998, roughly a year before his first Tour de France victory. USADA said Mr. Armstrong is also banned immediately from competing in Olympic and other elite-level sports for the rest of his life.

In 2010, The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that a former teammate had accused Mr. Armstrong of doping, which eventually led to the investigation by USADA.

USADA, a nonprofit organization charged with policing doping, doesn't have the authority to bring criminal charges, but it can sanction athletes by stripping them of their titles and banning them from competition for doping.

Mr. Armstrong had until midnight Thursday to officially decide whether to fight the agency's charges, which alleged Mr. Armstrong had participated in a conspiracy to cheat.

In a statement, Mr. Armstrong didn't admit that he cheated, but said he won't fight USADA, an organization Mr. Armstrong has said for months has treated him unfairly."


I normally don't feel bad for many people. I actually feel for him in this situation. He was basically harassed over and over without any proof. There's a reason why once you're found innocent you can't be tried for the same crime again. I find this to be absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

I feel the same way. He fought and fought for years, and never had anything proved against him. Now he's ready to move on, so they just want to wreck him?

 

[trickblue]

Floyd Landis hated being Lance's,,,, I guess. You are right, he denied using all along, then once admitted, oh Lance did too.

I'll kill a snitch...

 

[a_minimalist]

I feel the same way. He fought and fought for years, and never had anything proved against him. Now he's ready to move on, so they just want to wreck him?

They already did wreck him. His titles have now been taken away from him although absolutely nothing has been proven. You can tell the guy is just beaten up and worn down after it fighting it for so long. If you read the whole article you can see his comments.


"Say what you will about what I did or didn't do ten years ago, they're not playing by the rules," Mr. Armstrong said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this summer. "Here's the deal, athletes cheating in sport, that's bad. But what these guys are doing is far worse. The levels they have gone to try to f— me and rig this thing are far worse than any athlete taking a transfusion or some EPO. This is far dirtier."

The whole situation is just disgusting.

 

[Tabascocat]

Someone went on a witch-hunt and he was the unfortunate victim. He is fighting those with unlimited resources, it is a losing battle.

He may or may not have cheated, but he has passed all tests and nothing has been proven. He`s been retired for what...7 years?....and they`re still pursuing him with heresay evidence from(in some cases),snitches that caught a break....there is no hard evidence...no tainted test results... how many years should he continue this circle-jerk?

 

[wittenacious]

May not be the popular opinion, but I can't help but think Lance was/is guilty of the doping charges levied against him.

Wish it wasn't so... isn't really true. Would like to believe it's been nothing more than a sick witch hunt, born of jealousy and ill will by the governing body/bodies of his sport, but I've come to believe that where there's been so much smoke... regardless of Lance's history of passed tests, staying ahead of any definite proof along the way... there's likely fire.

I would hope I'm wrong in my swayed opinion, having changed over the years, but...

 

[03EBZ06]

Just trying to wrap my head around the process of urine testing procedure by the Tour De France organization. Lance Armstrong submits (6) bottles of urine in 1999, right after his Tour De France win but it took them 6 years to conduct urine test and to confirms suspicion of doping? 6 whole years? Why?

How the heck can anyone trust that those urine sample wasn't contaminated and had impeccable chain of custody for 6 years?


smh

 

[RS12]

Another example of tax payer money being lit on fire.

 

[a_minimalist]

May not be the popular opinion, but I can't help but think Lance was/is guilty of the doping charges levied against him.

Wish it wasn't so... isn't really true. Would like to believe it's been nothing more than a sick witch hunt, born of jealousy and ill will by the governing body/bodies of his sport, but I've come to believe that where there's been so much smoke... regardless of Lance's history of passed tests, staying ahead of any definite proof along the way... there's likely fire.

I would hope I'm wrong in my swayed opinion, having changed over the years, but...

That's the key word. It's fair to have that opinion. But, the fact of the matter is that we need facts to substantiate those claims. If we did not go buy those rules in society today there would be many innocent people labelled as guilty and in jail. What happened is not fair to him and it's not fair to society.

 

[Wimbo]

I think this is all a witch hunt. The man is retired. During his career he was tested more than anyone in the history of sports. The tests were random, unannounced, and failure to comply meant forfeiting his season. They even stopped him while he was loading his wife (who was in labor) into the car so he could drive her to the hospital... he had to submit a test before he could take her or forfeit his ability to compete. The only "positive" test ever he had was for a small trace of a cortico-steroid in 1999. The trace was too small to register a "positive" result. Lance was cleared when his team produced a medical certificate showing that he used a cream to treat saddle sores & the cream contained the substance. Guys, this is the over the counter stuff like Cortizone-10 or Aveeno that you get at your local grocery store.

I sent emails to the USADA this morning to let them know I think their methods and actions have been shameful and misguided. Also that I did not think Federal tax money should support an organization that performs a redundant service already being performed by private agencies. I then sent emails to my State's Senators and my district's US Representative outlining how Federal funding of the USADA is wasteful and unconstitutional, especially in a time when we are operating in a major deficit.

Lance is a national hero, not only for his accomplishments on the bike, but for using his celebrity status to raise money and awareness for a really good cause. He deserves better than the treatment he is receiving from the USADA, and people should be stepping up to show their support of a man who has not been proved guilty of anything.

For people who say he should still be fighting it... well, maybe so and maybe not. Think about it - while the taxpayer funded association is allocating all of these resources to punish him without proof, Lance has had to fund his own defense -both time and money - over something for which there is no proof. I can't blame him for just wanting it to be over.

 

[Wimbo]

Here is video of the USADA making it's case against Lance:

[youtube]xzYO0joolR0[/youtube]