finally giving up on fighting the doping charges

his statement:
http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/lance-armstongs-statement-of-august-23-2012

story:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/story/2012-08-23/Armstrong-doping-charges/57258616/1

The might strip him of his titles. pretty fucked up.

8/23/2012 10:09:13 PM

is why i don't care about professional sports despite being into DOING sports. professional sports is nothing but a cheap hormone rush for the average brained. roughly equivalent to playing the slot machine, speeding, or smoking crack.

8/23/2012 10:17:03 PM

The Juice is Loose!

8/23/2012 10:18:35 PM

the link to statement says "file not found" works now

[Edited on August 23, 2012 at 10:34 PM. Reason : works now]

8/23/2012 10:20:10 PM

jcgolden jacked off SUPER hard as he typed that out

8/23/2012 10:20:22 PM

^^works for me, I dont know what could be wrong

8/23/2012 10:24:10 PM

400+ clean tests in his life, but an e-mail from a confirmed doper is going to take him down

USADA should be ashamed

8/23/2012 10:27:19 PM

and there's the bait

8/23/2012 10:32:19 PM

Quote :

"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. . ."

ORLY?

8/23/2012 10:44:21 PM

All I have to say about the USADA banning him for life and attempting to strip his 7 titles: It was either a witch hunt, or he was on the most undetectable stuff EVER!!!

8/23/2012 11:12:44 PM

^^lol...i know nothing of cycling, how is that legal? because he was forced off the road by the guy who crashed?

8/23/2012 11:16:31 PM

i have never been so disappointed to hear this kind of news.

8/23/2012 11:46:23 PM

This sucks. First impression, a lot of homerisim by the US.

8/24/2012 2:32:41 AM

Fuckin juice monkeys he should have just got that 190% legal testosterone replacement voucher from a TRT dispensary like every other meathead scumbag in professional sports


Shame he was stuck in the past...Roid Landis and Lance Armstrungout

8/24/2012 2:45:48 AM

^^^^ It's legal as long as he doesn't gain any time, and he lost plenty of it on that exchange. Same thing in car racing; if you cut the course to avoid an accident, you simply fall back into line where you were before.

8/24/2012 4:51:08 AM

There is a reason Lance's statements always say things like "I passed 500 tests" or "I abided by the rules that the UCI gave me", and not "I'm clean", "I haven't ever doped". What was he afraid of more than losing his career accomplishments?

Quote :

" 400+ clean tests in his life, but an e-mail from a confirmed doper is going to take him down USADA should be ashamed "

It's a lot more than an email from Floyd Landis. There are reportedly sworn statements from 10+ former teammates and friends most of whom have never been caught doping. Of course we don't know the witnesses at this point because golden boy has a history of witness intimidation so they had to keep the evidence sealed. We may never know because Lance wanted to hide behind accusations of a witch hunt instead of defending himself.

I mean, I know most of you haven't actually followed this except to hear the Lance spin curiously released at 10pm est so that he could shape the narrative of the story. He really does have a brilliant PR team. You don't realize how deep this actually goes with the sport's governing body protecting its stars and throwing out the occasional sacrificial lamb for years in the name of cleaning up the sport. The UCI, which really shouldn't have a dog in this fight, was actively defending Lance as recent as last week on this whole thing.

The only shame now is that there is no one to give the tour titles that he will lose to because most of the podium finishers have been caught/admitted to doping. Funny enough, many of them had "never tested positive" either. At least now maybe they can stop pretending that everyone in that era was doping except Armstrong.

What's more significant is that this will probably lead to Johan Bruyneel also getting the boot from cycling and that could have implications on the future of the sport being clean.

[Edited on August 24, 2012 at 6:42 AM. Reason : D]

8/24/2012 6:16:24 AM

Lance Armstrong is a two-faced lying hack faggot who doesn't pay his water bill.

8/24/2012 6:27:49 AM

why do people hate lance sooooo much? There's a bunch of people over at runners world that hate him so vehemently

8/24/2012 11:08:27 AM

I don't hate him, but the guy is a cheater and widely regarded asshole and he hides behind being a champion for cancer but he probably caused it himself with doping and corticoids. He intimidated other riders who wanted to come out with what they knew about doping and he was instrumental in the so-called "code of silence" among cyclists that, quite frankly, is a big reason why the sport is only now getting cleaned up.

Think Barry Bonds times ten.

8/24/2012 11:20:40 AM

just heard about this...this is nuts. Or should I say...

8/24/2012 11:22:38 AM

The guy and his foundation have raised over $500 million for cancer research.

Don't care if he raced with a monkey hidden up his ass that would peddle for him when nobody was looking. He participated in something most people don't care about and used that to raise a shitpot of money for a great cause... not to mention just being an inspirational and motivating figure for millions of people which is fine by me when you are fighting cancer and need something to hold onto.

I don't see how anyone was hurt by this, and don't give me the "innocent riders that got screwed," because I don't feel bad for them they should have either cheated too or picked a new sport.

8/24/2012 11:32:08 AM

still a baller

8/24/2012 11:35:37 AM

someone on reddit posted this interview from 2009 with on of the co-developers of the EPO test. it's a long read, but i thought it was very interesting.

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden?null

8/24/2012 11:44:01 AM

Quote :

"There is a reason Lance's statements always say things like "I passed 500 tests" or "I abided by the rules that the UCI gave me", and not "I'm clean", "I haven't ever doped"."

This is what generally bugs me, too. But then again, if he was going to cheat, why would lying about cheating be some unthinkable line he wouldn't cross? I can understand not lying under oath, but in a public statement? meh

8/24/2012 11:48:59 AM

they going to go to his house and take his trophies?

i wouldnt give them back

8/24/2012 12:00:32 PM

how does the USADA have authority to strip titles?

8/24/2012 12:11:20 PM

I'm not sure they do have the authority to strip him of titles. They can ban him from the events they are the official anti-doping agency for, but it doesn't sound like they have the authority to strip him of titles. That would have to come from the governing body of cycling.

This is interesting, USADA still hasn't actually shown what evidence they have. To the best of my knowledge, and I may be wrong here, they don't actually have any positive tests. What they have are sworn affidavits from other people that he used EPO. Armnstrong has always maintained that he is clean, he's now just saying, "fuck it, I'm done fighting with these guys."

Maybe they have physical evidence to contradict his claims, but I don't believe they've ever shown it to UCI or shown UCI strong enough evidence to convince them that he was doping.

8/24/2012 12:29:52 PM

I think he's saying "fuck this, I don't want to be put under oath"

8/24/2012 12:35:10 PM

Fuckin lol at the shortcut video

If everyone else was getting caught doping back then , fuck it, let him keep the titles

Nothing else he was given the prompt of "pass this test" and he did

8/24/2012 12:37:26 PM

^

8/24/2012 12:37:49 PM

Quote :

"I don't see how anyone was hurt by this, and don't give me the "innocent riders that got screwed," because I don't feel bad for them they should have either cheated too or picked a new sport."

how does this make the least bit of sense?

8/26/2012 2:17:28 PM

Ordered mine yesterday

8/26/2012 3:15:21 PM

Guilty. I hope the details come out in the arbitration hearing for Johan Bruyneel.

8/26/2012 5:41:46 PM

does anyone take cycling serious anyway? to me it is a leisure weekend activity not a serious sport

but i guess if you have to cheat to be more leisurely than the rest of the field id imagine it makes it more of a sport

that should be the definition of a sport..."are the participants taking steroids to influence the result"

that makes cycling, baseball, and the NFL the number top definitions of sport

[Edited on August 26, 2012 at 7:18 PM. Reason : e]

8/26/2012 6:51:29 PM

The baseball players need to talk to the cyclist they know how to dope.

8/26/2012 7:00:39 PM

Quote :

"I don't see how anyone was hurt by this, and don't give me the "innocent riders that got screwed," because I don't feel bad for them they should have either cheated too or picked a new sport."

Quote :

"how does this make the least bit of sense?"

Yeah really, is Titans being serious here?

8/26/2012 9:17:28 PM

Quote :

"the number top definitions of sport"

8/26/2012 9:25:02 PM

They can't figure out who to give his Tour De France wins to because everyone else cheated also. The sport is as dirty as it gets.

8/26/2012 9:40:52 PM

Hate the player, not the game.

8/26/2012 9:57:34 PM

Quote :

"The guy and his foundation have raised over $500 million for cancer research."

Gifford did not uncover any legal misuse of Livestrong funds. That being said, he reported that, “Livestrong spends massively on adver­tising, PR, and ‘branding,’ all of which helps preserve Armstrong’s marketability at a time when he’s under fire. Meanwhile, Armstrong has used the goodwill of his foundation to cut business deals that have enriched him per­sonally, an ethically questionable move.”

8/26/2012 10:12:52 PM

If everyone doped, then all the riders are essentially on a level playing field anyway, so he still won. I guess you could say he was the dopest of the doped.

8/26/2012 11:11:23 PM

Quote :

"Yeah really, is Titans being serious here?"

Half serious half kidding. Just so immune to anything steroids at this point, I assume most great athletes have at least tried it and in this case at least some net good came out of it with his fundraising.

8/27/2012 2:42:23 PM

Quote :

"Meanwhile, Armstrong has used the goodwill of his foundation to cut business deals that have enriched him per­sonally, an ethically questionable move."

that's a qualitative conclusion based on very vague malfeasance.

"used the goodwill of his foundation"

what does that mean and what were said business deals?

"Hey, we'll use your company to manufacture those yellow livestrong bracelets if you'll cut me a deal on the manufacturing of a side project i'm working on..."

is different than

"My previous accomplishments in building the most visible and well-branded non-profit in America are why you should hire me as a consultant for $5 million a year"

(both are completely made up situations of course)

8/27/2012 2:58:56 PM

^Well, there is the issue of the brand confusion. Apparently the Lance Armstrong Foundation (the charity behind livestrong) and Lance Armstrong himself co-own the Livestrong brand. The Livestrong brand sponsors a developmental cycling team, sells clothing, exercise bikes, etc. and the profit generated goes to Lance and the Foundation. That's a pretty blurry line for a general public who probably believes that if they purchase something with Livestrong on it, they are supporting charity when that may not be the case.




On another note, here is an article that tackles some of the common reactions better than I could have.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2012/08/the-armstrong-fallout-thoughts-and.html

8/27/2012 3:45:23 PM

http://news.runnersworld.com/2012/09/07/lance-armstrong-denied-entry-to-chicago-marathon/?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-RunnersWorld-_-Content-News-_-LanceArmstrong

Quote :

"Lance Armstrong Denied Entry to Chicago Marathon Lance Armstrong intended to run next month’s Chicago Marathon as a member of the team sponsored by his Livestrong Foundation, which raises funds for cancer programs. But Chicago won’t accept Armstrong into its field. “We got the news [Thursday],” said Mark Fabiani, Armstrong’s spokesman. The Chicago decision comes in the wake of last month’s U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s ruling that Armstrong was guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs for more than a decade. The agency, which handles drug testing for U.S. Olympic sports, ruled that Armstrong would be stripped of his seven Tour de France cycling championships and be banned for life from all sports. For a cyclist, Armstrong has made a big shoeprint in road running. When he hopped into a Boston or New York marathon, it was news. His Livestrong Foundation sponsors runners who have raised millions of dollars to fight cancer in races across the country. Livestrong also sponsors races. The road running community has been waiting to see if USA Track & Field, the national governing body for the sport, would enforce the ban on Armstrong. As a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency code, USATF is bound to enforce rulings by WADA and USADA. The ban in other sports such as road running and triathlon has not been popular. “It seems a little over the top to pursue him beyond the cycling arena to me,” said John Conley, whose company owns and operates the Livestrong Austin Marathon and Half Marathon. Last week Livestrong indicated that ban or not, the foundation planned to maintain its involvement in running that includes sponsoring runners in races like Chicago and sponsoring races. “I expect it will continue to be just as it has been,” Conley said. “I don’t expect any changes really.”"

Like I said on FB, I would love to see Lance bandit Chicago or come run Philadelphia in November!

9/7/2012 2:30:20 PM

http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2012/09/08/tyler-hamilton-cycling

9/8/2012 10:00:14 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/sports/cycling/agency-details-doping-case-against-lance-armstrong.html

Quote :

"Armstrong Was Central Figure in Doping Ring, Officials Say The United States Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday released details of its investigation of Lance Armstrong, calling it the most sophisticated doping program in recent sports history — a program in which it said Armstrong played a key role by doping, supplying doping products and demanding that his top teammates dope so he could be successful. Enlarge This Image Peter Dejong/Associated Press In 2005, Lance Armstrong held up seven fingers to indicate his seventh straight win in the Tour de France. A 202-page account of the agency’s case against Armstrong included sworn testimony from 26 people, including nearly a dozen former teammates on Armstrong’s United States Postal Service and Discovery Channel squads who said they saw Armstrong doping to help him win every one of his record seven Tour de France titles. The file was the most extensive, groundbreaking layout of Armstrong’s alleged doping, bolstered by new interviews, financial statements and laboratory results. The agency said that witnesses’ testimony was so damning that it did not need any corroborating evidence to make its case, though its report included financial payments, e-mail messages, laboratory results and scientific data that the agency said proved Armstrong cheated by using banned performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions. “The U.S.P.S. Team doping conspiracy was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices,” the agency said. “A program organized by individuals who thought they were above the rules and who still play a major and active role in sport today.” Timothy J. Herman, one of Armstrong’s lawyers, said in an e-mail message that the 202-page report “will be a one-sided hatchet job — a taxpayer-funded tabloid piece rehashing old, disproved, unreliable allegations based largely on axe-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals and threat-induced stories.” The teammates who came forward and submitted sworn affidavits included some of the best cyclists of Armstrong’s generation: Levi Leipheimer, Tyler Hamilton and George Hincapie, one of the most respected American riders in recent history. Other teammates who came forward with information were Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Floyd Landis, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie. Their testimony was the most widespread effort to break the code of silence in cycling that has existed for decades and perpetuated the pervasive doping in the sport. The agency said the evidence revealed “conclusive and undeniable proof that brings to the light of day for the first time this systemic, sustained and highly professionalized team-run doping conspiracy.” The evidence against Armstrong features financial payments, e-mails, scientific analyses and laboratory test results that show Armstrong doped and was the kingpin of the doping conspiracy, the agency said. Several years of Armstrong’s blood values showed evidence of doping, the report said. “It’s shocking, it’s disappointing,” said Travis Tygart, chief executive of the antidoping agency. “But we did our job.” When Armstrong decided in August not to contest Usada’s charges, he agreed to forgo an arbitration hearing at which the evidence against him would have been aired, possibly publicly. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, the antidoping agency was required to submit its evidence against Armstrong to the International Cycling Union, which has 21 days from the receipt of the case file to appeal the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Once it makes its decision, the World Anti-Doping Agency will then have 21 days in which to appeal. The cycling union and the World Anti-Doping Agency were expected to receive the Armstrong file Wednesday. The antidoping agency has been gathering evidence on Armstrong for the past several years, with its efforts increasing after Landis, the 2006 Tour winner who was stripped of the title for doping, contacted Tygart in 2010. Landis told Tygart that he, Armstrong and others on the Postal Service team were involved in systematic doping supported by the team. At the same time, Armstrong became the target of a federal investigation into his doping and doping-related crimes, including defrauding the government, drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy. In particular, investigators from the Food and Drug Administration, the F.B.I. and the United States Postal Service were looking into whether Armstrong and his associates had used government money to finance doping practices. But last February, André Birotte Jr., the United States attorney in Los Angeles, announced that his office was dropping the investigation into Armstrong. He gave no reason for abandoning the inquiry, which lasted nearly two years and involved extensive travel, including to Europe, where antidoping agency and law enforcement officials met with their counterparts from Italy and France. While the criminal investigation is no more, an inquiry by the Department of Justice is continuing, sparked by Landis’s filing a federal whistle-blower lawsuit charging that Armstrong and the team management defrauded the government by using taxpayer dollars to finance the squad’s doping program. He claimed that Armstrong and the team management were aware of the widespread doping on the team when the squad’s contract with the Postal Service clearly stated that any doping would constitute default of their agreement, said two people with knowledge of the case. Those people did not want their names published because the case is still under seal. Landis filed the lawsuit under the False Claims Act, the people with knowledge of the matter said, and those suits give citizens the right and financial incentive to bring lawsuits on the government’s behalf. If the government decides to join the lawsuit and recovers any money because of it, Landis will be eligible to receive a percentage of the money. Armstrong, who retired from cycling last year, has said Landis made up the story of doping on the team because he had not been hired by Armstrong after Landis ended his two-year suspension from the sport for doping. When the antidoping agency announced this summer that it would file charges against Armstrong, he immediately denounced the agency’s claims and called its process of sanctioning athletes “a kangaroo court.” He filed a federal lawsuit in August, saying the antidoping agency was depriving him of his constitutional right for due process and asking the court to stop the antidoping agency from moving forward with its case. A judge dismissed the lawsuit. In a statement by his lawyer on Wednesday, Hincapie, the only rider who was at Armstrong’s side for his seven Tour victories, acknowledged doping and apologized to his family, teammates and fans for his dishonesty. “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,” said Hincapie, who retired from cycling this year after riding in a record 17th Tour. “I deeply regret that choice.” Hincapie, the five-time Olympian and three-time national road race champion, said that he had been approached by federal investigators in the spring of 2010 and they asked him to divulge his experience with doping. That summer, he sat down with them and admitted he had cheated with drugs — but also reluctantly spoke about the other cyclists involved in doping because he felt “obligated to tell the truth about everything he knew,” he said. He told investigators that he had not used performance-enhancing drugs or processes since 2006, a point when he was accomplished enough to ride clean and respected enough to start persuading other riders, particularly young ones, to avoid doping. Since stopping his drug use, Hincapie said he has been “working hard within the sport of cycling to rid it of banned substances.” “Thankfully, the use of performance-enhancing drugs is no longer embedded in the culture of our sport, and younger riders are not faced with the same choice we had,” he said. He said the antidoping agency had reached out to him more recently to ask him about his doping past. "

10/10/2012 4:09:11 PM

tuff stuff

10/10/2012 10:38:46 PM

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/17/lance-armstrong-stepping-down-from-livestrong-charity/

Quote :

"Updated at 8:52 a.m. ET] Lance Armstrong's commitment to helping others with cancer has been a big reason the Livestrong was able to raise so much money over the years, Doug Ulman, President and CEO of the charity said in a statement. "Long before he became a household name, Lance Armstrong created a foundation to serve others facing the same fears and challenges he struggled to overcome as a result of his cancer diagnosis. Today, thanks to Lance's leadership, that foundation has had the privilege of raising close to $500 million to serve people affected by cancer. Lance has made this foundation and its cause - aiding people whose lives have been touched by this disease - his life's work. His leadership in the cancer community has spurred immeasurable progress and it has been a great privilege to work shoulder to shoulder with him on a daily basis during his chairmanship. "We are grateful to Jeff Garvey for assuming the responsibilities of chairman. Jeff has been a guiding presence for Livestrong for 15 years and we look forward to a seamless transition under his leadership and a continued strong focus on our core values and mission. "Lance's devotion to serving others whose lives were irrevocably changed by cancer, as his was, is unsurpassable. We are incredibly proud of his record as an advocate and philanthropist and are deeply grateful that Lance and his family will continue to be actively involved with the Foundation's advocacy and service work. We look forward to celebrating 15 years of progress with Lance and his family this weekend and recommitting ourselves to the work of the cancer community for the years ahead." [Updated at 8:47 a.m. ET] Lance Armstrong is stepping down as chairman of the Livestrong charity "to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career," according to a statement posted to the group's website. Armstrong added that he will still devote his life to the work of the foundation and remain advocates for cancer survivors. The controversial cyclist's full statement was posted on the Livestrong website: "In 1996, as my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer. It has been a great privilege to help grow it from a dream into an organization that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors. This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart. I am deeply grateful to the people of the foundation who have done such hard and excellent work over the last 15 years, building tangible and effective ways to improve the lives of cancer survivors. And I am deeply humbled by the support our foundation has received from so many people throughout the world - survivors, world leaders, business leaders and of course, the cancer community itself. We turn to this community frequently for guidance and collaboration to achieve our shared goals. They are unfailingly generous with their wisdom and counsel and I can never thank them enough. I have had the great honor of serving as this foundation's chairman for the last five years and its mission and success are my top priorities. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship. My duties will transfer to Vice Chairman Jeff Garvey who will serve as chairman. Jeff's guidance and wisdom have been critical to shaping the foundation's work since its earliest days. Jeff was this organization's founding chairman and I have full confidence that under his leadership, the foundation will continue expanding its ability to serve cancer survivors. My family and I have devoted our lives to the work of the foundation and that will not change. We plan to continue our service to the foundation and the cancer community. We will remain active advocates for cancer survivors and engaged supporters of the fight against cancer. And we look forward to an exciting weekend of activities marking the 15th anniversary of the foundation's creation." [Updated at 8:22 a.m. ET] Nike has just released a statement saying they have terminated their contract with Lance Armstrong for misleading them for more than a decade. "Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner," the statement on Nike's website reads. "Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer. [Posted at 8:12 a.m. ET] Controversial American cyclist Lance Armstrong is stepping down as chairman of his Livestrong charity, which was set up to "fight to improve the lives of people affected by cancer." The move comes a week after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said it had uncovered overwhelming evidence of Armstrong's involvement in a sophisticated doping program while a professional cyclist. Armstrong found out he had testicular cancer at age 25 when he was emerging as a rising star among cyclists. He started a small group to raise money for cancer called the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1997. 84 million bright yellow Livestrong wristbands have been distributed since 2004. In the wake of the doping scandal critics have struck out the "V" in the bracelet to make it read what they accuse Armstrong of doing for more than a decade: "LIE STRONG.""

10/17/2012 9:05:30 AM

set em up

10/17/2012 12:07:59 PM