The tour de france is such a great sporting event. The tour should just make steroids and designer drugs legal and be done with it. I honestly would still watch the tour even if I knew that every rider was on peds. But that is another argument.
I think a lot of people will feel betrayed. He lied for years about it and shamed other people for questioning him.
I haven't followed this case much at all, but I was wondering how come he wasn't caught for doping while he actually competed in the Tour De France? I thought they have fairly vigorous drug testing while competing.
He's been caught twice, actually. First time doctor got him off, second time he got the lab discredited and settled off the record with an All-Star team of lawyers (http://articles.businessinsider.com...onal-cycling-union-tyler-hamilton-clean-rider). Not testing positive doesn't prove anything - it's a weak defense that's always taken out of context. Anyways, the whole smear campaign is pathetic and a waste of time. EACH AND EVERY top rider in the last 15 years, atleast, has doped and Lance has too much pride to be the fall guy when everyone else gets off easy. It's his life's work so I empathize with the guy for defending it like he has.
Lol, this whole thing looks more and more like an argument in the d&d. "You no longer wish to dispute claims against you? Ha! Clearly this is an admission of guilt! I win! Neener neener!". They can refuse to recognize his victories, etc, but that all amounts to a hill of beans in the eyes of the public. Until they produce a smoking gun, nobody's opinion will be changed, and I doubt the UCI is going to get on board either.
Given all the lawyer fees he would incur, I can completely understand him just saying "i'm done". I don't think it means squat about whether or not he actually doped.
I agree. That being said I have no doubt in my mind that he doped. Just like every other cycling professional. And I am getting a bit annoyed with al the self righteousness of these athletes. They are so shocked that people even claim they are doping. Even though they are using.
Pretty much. It's an independent organization that makes arbitrary decisions. Fighting them would be a waste of time and money at this point in his life. If this were, you know, an actual court of law, it might make sense. But the actual federal investigations/charges against him turned up nothing (surprise!). So what is left to prove? Whose mind is left to change? This feels more and more like the "Glenn Beck Raped And Murdered A Young Girl In 1990" meme. Why aren't you denying it, Glenn???
He doped. Anyone who says otherwise is in clear denial. When a number of your former teammates are willing to testify in detail against you, massage therapists and doctors of different nationalities have corroborating evidence, people find testosterone bottles in your medicine cabinet and dirty laundry, and riders forced to come clean invariably talk about your systematic ways of cheating... But doping is the way of life in cycling. It's not fair to strip Lance of 7 titles and give it to the guy in 2nd place who doped himself but just wasn't as good as Lance. It's always more interesting to me how they do it and how substances are injected to 0.01 below the detectable level ( http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/m...rmstrong-alleged-role-article-1.446089?pgno=1 ). Blood transfusions, illegal patches, makeup to cover syringe marks... it's very creative. It's a part of the sport and has been going back to Greg LeMond who talked about it in detail after his career. I don't fault Lance one bit for partaking in this art... but after letting my thoughts settle, taking down Lance is the best way cycling can begin to make a change. Or atleast make cheating not the cool thing to do anymore.
This isn't football, Donny. Big talk and little substance based on very, very shallow analytical skills won't get you a pat on the back.
I wouldn't be shocked if he was doping either, as prevalent in the sport as it is/was. But if all those other guys can get busted, statistically speaking, so should Armstrong. So, the likelihood of him doping has a pretty significant counterbalance to it. What is funny here is that the USADA's ruling will likely have no teeth to it, and only end up being a hollow, petty gesture. The ASO (the org that runs the TDF) will want to see the evidence against Armstrong before recognizing the USADA's decision, and based on how the USADA has acted to this point, that likely won't happen (probably because the evidence is crappy and immaterial, just my theory). So, Armstrong's TDF/Olympic titles will be stripped in-name-only by a quasi-government organization that has no authority over any of it and didn't even exist at the time of said races. And yeah, banning a retired athlete from USADA events, now that's hardcore. The only thing weaker than the "500+ clean tests" defense is the "you don't deny it therefore you're guilty" argument. USADA still can't produce the smoking gun, and now that Armstrong refuses to keep playing their game, they're taking their ball and going home. They mad.
I have always said that this day would come. Armstrong is a bigtime cheater and a poster child for everything that is wrong in cycling. On top of that, he has been like a mafia don, pressuring, threatening and harassing people who were willing to come clean. That has actually been the most annoying thing about him and that is why he needs to be brought to his knees if that sport ever wants to get close to coming clean. Ullrich at least didn't bully others, like Armstrong did. The chuzpe with which Armstrong lied and aggressively harmed others to conceal his own fraud has been unbelievable. The only bad thing about this outcome is that he will just keep lying, and some people will actually still believe him. He will say he is not admitting guilt, he is just giving up the fight, and then he will even have the nerve to portray himself as a victim. It's a joke. Armstrong is a joke. Everything he did was built on fraud. Ronny has a point when he says that they all doped, it is true. And it is ridiculous that Ullrich will possibly get 3 tour titles now if Armstrong is stripped because he doped as well. But that doesn't make what Armstrong did any better - and what he did goes far beyond just doping himself because everyone else did it. He was the mafia boss. Next, they should sue him for fraud and make sure he loses all his prize money and endorsement money - because it was all based on fraud. Sadly, that will not happen.
At this point, I wish every sporting league and association would stop the PED witch hunt. I liked the world of blissful ignorance where athletes could still amaze us and be heroes without us thinking they are "doping". In the end, who are we to say what limits of performance enhancement an adult athlete should be able to go to in order to perform at their highest level. Sure, most PEDs carry health risks but so do a lot of OTC supplements, even weight and cardio training have their risks. It doesn't appear that any amount of testing, fines, and suspensions are going to stop people from trying to get an edge on the competition. I'll probably get flamed for it, but as long as they aren't getting in trouble with the law, I have no problem looking the other way when it comes to PEDs.
It's not a witch hunt. It's cheating, it's fraud. If you don't pursue it, you FORCE every athlete to do the same if they ever want to have a chance at winning. There is also a lot of money involved. Armstrong made tons of money from cheating and lying and defrauding others. He is a fraud, and he knows he can't keep up his lies if the evidence comes out, so he chickens out of a public proceeding.
Just let every athlete take whatever they want to take, it is their body. If you can run 8 sec in 100m on drug, great for you! If you can hit 100 hrs in baseball, awesome!
I think the big issue is the same as Barry Bonds - these athletes at the top have the money and resources to use designer steroids and stay one step ahead of the testing. The entire silliness of the Bonds "I never tested positive" defense was that BALCO specifically existed to design steroids that wouldn't test positive.
