b*******s
发帖数: 3614 | 1 USADA to strip Lance Armstrong of 7 Tour titles
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lance-armstrong-faces-big-decision
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- With stunning swiftness, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency
said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven
Tour de France titles after he dropped his fight against drug charges that
threatened his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
Travis Tygart, USADA's chief executive, said Armstrong would also be hit
with a lifetime ban on Friday. And under the World Anti-Doping Code, he
would lose the bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics as well as any awards,
event titles and cash earnings.
Armstrong, who retired last year, effectively dropped his fight by declining
to enter USADA's arbitration process - his last option - because he said he
was weary of fighting accusations that have dogged him for years. He has
consistently pointed to the hundreds of drug tests he passed as proof of his
innocence while piling up Tour titles from 1999 to 2005.
''There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is
enough.' For me, that time is now,'' Armstrong said. He called the USADA
investigation an ''unconstitutional witch hunt.''
''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.
''It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes,'' Tygart said.
''It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and
safe option. There's no success in cheating to win.''
Tygart said the agency had the power to strip the Tour titles, though
Armstrong disputed that.
''USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and
attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles,'' he said. ''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.''
Still to be heard from was the sport's governing body, the International
Cycling Union, which had backed Armstrong's legal challenge to USADA's
authority and in theory could take the case before the international Court
of Arbitration for Sport.
Tygart said UCI was ''bound to recognize our decision and impose it'' as a
signer of the World Anti-Doping Code.
''They have no choice but to strip the titles under the code,'' he said.
USADA maintains that Armstrong has used banned substances as far back as
1996, including the blood-booster EPO and steroids as well as blood
transfusions - all to boost his performance.
The 40-year-old Armstrong walked away from the sport in 2011 without being
charged following a two-year federal criminal investigation into many of the
same accusations he faces from USADA.
The federal probe was closed in February, but USADA announced in June it had
evidence Armstrong used banned substances and methods - and encouraged
their use by teammates. The agency also said it had blood tests from 2009
and 2010 that were ''fully consistent'' with blood doping.
Included in USADA's evidence were emails written by Armstrong's former U.S.
Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de
France title after a positive drug test. Landis' emails to a USA Cycling
official detailed allegations of a complex doping program on the team.
USADA also said it had 10 former Armstrong teammates ready to testify
against him. Other than suggesting they include Landis and Tyler Hamilton,
both of whom have admitted to doping offenses, the agency has refused to say
who they are or specifically what they would say.
''There is zero physical evidence to support (the) outlandish and heinous
claims,'' Armstrong said. ''The only physical evidence here is the hundreds
of (doping) controls I have passed with flying colors.''
Armstrong sued USADA in Austin, where he lives, in an attempt to block the
case and was supported by the UCI. A judge threw out the case on Monday,
siding with USADA despite questioning the agency's pursuit of Armstrong in
his retirement.
''USADA's conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest
in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to
less noble motives,'' such as politics or publicity, U.S. District Judge Sam
Sparks wrote.
Even if UCI and USADA differ on the Tour titles, the ultra-competitive
Armstrong has still done something virtually unthinkable for him: He quit
before a fight is over.
It was a stunning move for an athlete who built his reputation on not only
beating cancer, but forcing himself through grueling offseason workouts no
one else could match, then crushing his rivals in the Alps and the Pyrenees.
''Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of
the circumstances,'' he said. ''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.''
Armstrong could have pressed his innocence in USADA's arbitration process,
which would have included a hearing during which evidence against him would
have been presented. But the cyclist has said he believes most people have
already made up their minds about whether he's a fraud or a persecuted hero.
Although he had already been crowned a world champion and won individual
stages at the Tour de France, Armstrong was still relatively unknown in the
U.S. until he won the epic race for the first time in 1999. It was the
ultimate comeback tale: When diagnosed with cancer, doctors had given him
less than a 50 percent chance of survival before surgery and brutal cycles
of chemotherapy saved his life.
Armstrong's riveting victories, his work for cancer awareness and his gossip
-page romances with rocker Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and
actress Kate Hudson made him a figure who transcended sports.
His dominance of the Tour de France elevated the sport's popularity in
America to unprecedented levels. His story and success helped sell millions
of the ''Livestrong'' plastic yellow wrist bracelets, and enabled him to
enlist lawmakers and global policymakers to promote cancer awareness and
research. His Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised nearly $500 million
since its founding in 1997.
Jeffery C. Gervey, chairman of the foundation, issued a statement of support
saying:
''Faced with a biased process whose outcome seems predetermined, Lance chose
to put his family and his foundation first,'' Gervey said. ''The leadership
of the Lance Armstrong Foundation remain incredibly proud of our founder's
achievements, both on and off the bike.''
Created in 2000, USADA is recognized by Congress as the official anti-doping
agency for Olympic sports in the United States. Its investigators joined U.
S. agents during the federal investigation of Armstrong. Tygart dismissed
Armstrong's lawsuit as an attempt at ''concealing the truth,'' saying the
agency is motivated by one goal - exposing cheaters.
Armstrong had tense public disputes with USADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency
, some former teammates and assistants and even Greg LeMond, the first
American to win the Tour de France.
Others close to him were caught up in the investigations, too: Johan
Bruyneel, the coach of Armstrong's teams, and three members of the medical
staff and a consultant were also charged. Bruyneel is taking his case to
arbitration, while two medical team staffers and consulting doctor Michele
Ferrari didn't formally contest the charges and were issued lifetime ban by
USADA. Ferrari later said he was innocent.
Questions surfaced even as Armstrong was on his way to his first Tour
victory. He was leading the 1999 race when a trace amount of a banned anti-
inflammatory corticosteroid was found in his urine; cycling officials said
he was authorized to use a small amount of a cream to treat saddle sores.
After Armstrong's second victory in 2000, French judicial officials
investigated his Postal Service team for drug use. That investigation ended
with no charges, but the allegations kept coming.
Armstrong was criticized for his relationship with Ferrari, who was banned
by Italian authorities over doping charges in 2002. Former personal and team
assistants accused Armstrong of having steroids in an apartment in Spain
and disposing of syringes that were used for injections.
In 2004, a Dallas-based promotions company initially refused to pay him a $5
million bonus for winning his sixth Tour de France because it wanted to
investigate allegations raised by media in Europe. Testimony in that case
included former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, saying
Armstrong told doctors during his 1996 cancer treatments that he had taken a
cornucopia of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.
Two books published in Europe, ''L.A. Confidential'' and ''L.A. Official,''
also raised doping allegations and, in 2005, French magazine L'Equipe
reported that retested urine samples from the 1999 Tour showed EPO use.
Armstrong fought every accusation with denials and, in some cases, lawsuits
against media outlets that reported them.
He retired in 2005 and almost immediately considered a comeback before
deciding to stay on the sidelines - in part because he didn't want to keep
answering doping questions.
''I'm sick of this,'' Armstrong said in 2005. ''Sitting here today, dealing
with all this stuff again, knowing if I were to go back, there's no way I
could get a fair shake - on the roadside, in doping control, or the labs.''
Three years later, Armstrong was 36 and itching to ride again. He came back
to finish third in the 2009 Tour de France.
Armstrong raced again in 2010 under the cloud of the federal investigation.
Early last year, he quit the sport for good, making a brief return as a
triathlete until the USADA investigation shut him down.
During his sworn testimony in the dispute over the $5 million bonus,
Armstrong said he wouldn't take drugs because he had too much to lose.
''(The) faith of all the cancer survivors around the world. Everything I do
off the bike would go away, too,'' Armstrong said then. ''And don't think
for a second I don't understand that. It's not about money for me.
Everything. It's also about the faith that people have put in me over the
years. So all of that would be erased.'' |
|
