Lance Armstrong's legacy tainted for life

[Rob Iola]

I mean, c'mon, it's not like he's going to hand back only one of the greatest achievements in sports history without fighting to the bitter end...

His climb up Alpe D'Huez in 2001, where he looked back at the competition and then dusted them, was as badass as it gets in biking - memorable to be sure, but apparently not without him putting the PED in pedal...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2o5UxDs-N0[/youtube]

43 second mark...

[GannonFan]

Again, what smoke? If they had smoke the Feds could've slam dunked a case for perjury and Armstrong would be looking at jail time. However, the Feds backed off because they could never win a case in court. The Feds tend not to just walk away from easily prosecutable cases if "smoke" existed. Him walking away didn't change the outcome of this through the USADA - he was going to have to refute the oral testimony of several people who said he did cheat or knew of him cheating, and it was going to be his word against their's, and the USADA was already clear that he would lose. Whether he went to arbitration or not mattered little - the outcome would've been the same as it is today - the USADA thinks he cheated, he can't prove in their eyes that he didn't, and they have sanctioned him accordingly.

We can all think he probably did cheat - and he probably did - but that still doesn't amount to proof.

What smoke? How about basically, his whole racing team has gone on the record saying that Lance cheated. If these guys had direct knowledge or were eyewitnesses to Lance taking PED's I believe a good lawyer would at the very least smear Armstrong's reputation more than by Lance taking the punishment by not moving on with the appeal/arbitration procedure.

Then again, it's only cycling. If cycling was a big deal you'd rattle off this year's tour de France champ just like that.................still thinking?......................he was British...........................won a medal in the Olympics..................and 98% plus of you STILL can't get it.

And very good lawyers did look at the evidence and they passed on prosecuting it because it wouldn't win in court.

Again, we all think he cheated, and he probably did (especially since everyone cheats in cycling, even Bradley Wiggins) - but it's never been proven. That's what still separates him from the Bonds and McGwire's and the Yankees and other doping cheats - he never got caught, despite everyone in cycling, the USADA, the WADA, and the entire country of France trying to catch him for more than a decade. So either Armstrong was clean (doubtful) or he was the most successful cheat in the history of doping. He's like the David Copperfield of doping (come to think of it, I think David Copperfield is doping - I should call the USADA and tell them.).

[GannonFan]

I mean, c'mon, it's not like he's going to hand back only one of the greatest achievements in sports history without fighting to the bitter end...

His climb up L'Alpe D'Huez in 2001, where he looked back at the competition and then dusted them, was as badass as it gets in biking - memorable to be sure, but apparently not without him putting the PED in pedal...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2o5UxDs-N0[/youtube]

43 second mark...

Again, hasn't he fought this pretty far for a decade and a half now? He cleared a Federal grand jury that saw all the same evidence that the USADA has now. By the USADA's procedures, he's already guilty and nothing in the arbitration process would've changed that. He did fight to the bitter end, once the USADA decided to charge him in spite of clearing the Federal grand jury this was already over. He could go to arbitration, spend the money, and be right where he is today. I don't blame him for stopping now, the USADA has tarnished their own reputation at this point and it's clear, to them, he's guilty no matter what. Same goes for the WADA. How do you fight that?

[UNHWildCats]

Really?

You guys are that naive?

In a sport full of cheaters, a clean guy dominated? cmon use your heads! Practically his whole team has come out & said he cheated.

As for the tests, how many tests did Barry Bonds fail? McGwire? Sosa? Clemens?, should I go on.

There have been 5 MLB players caught this year, do you think just 5 MLB players are cheating?

Do you think the NFL is basically clean because hardly no one gets caught?

Can I live in your dream world with unicorns & pixie dust?

there was virtually no testing during most of the time those baseball players played. Armstrong has been tested over 500 times and never failed a test.

That aside, even if he was doping WHO CARES... the entire sport does it. Look at 2005. None of the 10 guys finishing in the 10 spots behind Armstrong have a clean past with no test failures or allegations. IF Lance is stripped who do you give the titles too? Its a complete joke.

[Rob Iola]

The Onion's chock full of Tour De France articles, but this has gotta be my favorite:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/nondop ... ance,2268/
An excerpt:

Non-Doping Cyclists Finish Tour De France
...
Finland's Piet Kvistik, a domestique with the Crédit Mondial team, was this year's highest-finishing non-doping rider (142nd overall). Kvistik claimed the maillot propre, the blue jersey worn by the highest-placed "clean" rider, on the ninth stage of the race when the six riders who had previously worn it tested positive for EPO, elevated levels of testosterone, and blood-packing.

"This is a very, very proud day for me," said the 115-pound Kvistik, who lost 45% of his body mass during the event, toppled from his saddle moments after finishing, and had to be administered oxygen, fed intravenously, and injected with adrenaline by attending medical personnel. "They say it is physically impossible to ride all of the Tour without drugs, but we prove them wrong this day."

"What day is it, anyway?" asked Kvistik, his eyes rolling wildly in his head. "I can no longer tell."

Kvistik's overall time for the Tour was 571 hours, 22 minutes, and 33 seconds, beating by over an hour the previous record for a non-enhanced rider, set by Albrect Påart during 1923's infamous ether-and-morphine-shortened race. Kvistik finished a mere 480 hours behind Alberto Contador, the overall winner, making 2007's margin between doping and non-doping riders the closest in history.

"It became most difficult for us on the 7th stage, which was almost 200 kilometers and the first stage through the mountains," Kvistik said while accepting the non-doping victor's 100-franc check from his stretcher. "Not only did the excruciating pain and weakness in my legs make it difficult to walk my bike on the steeper stretches, it was mentally very hard to know that half the other clean riders were dead or dying. Also, the other 141 riders finished the Tour in Paris that morning, which made it all that much harder."
...

[BlueHen86]

Nice work GF. Great series of posts.

I also suspect that Lance doped, but he never got caught. This was a witch hunt, Lance never had a chance. I don't blame him for walking away.

[SDHornet]

The International Cycling Union (cycling worldwide's governing body) is demanding a "reasoned decision" from the USADA under Section 8.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code. It maintains the record book and has said it will take no action or make any further comment until the USADA renders that decision. It has also questioned USADA jurisdiction in the case and previously supported Armstrong's complaints that the USADA procedures were unfair. The ICU seems likely to challenge the USADA's claim to jurisdiction in the worldwide Court of Arbitration for Sports.

As of the moment, Armstrong could ride in any ICU event and, if I were him, I'd do it just to piss off the USADA.

Yeah I later read up on this issue and learned of this. Since the USADA has no jurisdiction, it's basically on the same level as the MLB saying the NY Giants SB is null and void.

[Wedgebuster]

She said "taint"

[93henfan]

She said "taint"

Who? Sheryl Crow?

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

She said "taint"

Who? Sheryl Crow?

Well, he doesn't eat crow anymore.