USADA to ban Armstrong for life, strip Tour titles
Lance Armstrong attends the 2011 Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Aug. 6, 2011, in Bourne, Mass. / Getty Images
Updated 6:15 a./m. ET
(CBS/AP) The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he declared he was finished fighting the drug charges that threaten 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.
Armstrong dropped any further challenges Thursday night to USADA's allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win cycling's premier event from 1999-2005.
Armstrong says USADA doesn't have the authority to vacate his Tour titles. However, Tygart told The Associated Press that USADA can do it.
Tygart called the Armstrong case a "heartbreaking" example of a win-at-all costs approach to sports.
On Friday, World Anti-Doping Agency head John Fahey told Reuters Armstrong should be stripped of his seven Tour titles, because his decision not to fight doping charges meant there was "substance" to the allegations.
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.
Armstrong, who retired last year, declined to enter arbitration -- 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 that he has passed as proof of his innocence.
Lance Armstrong
"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 in a statement sent to The Associated Press. 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."
Video: Lance Armstrong goes after Anti-Doping Agency
"60 Minutes" Overtime: Ex-Teammate: I saw Lance Armstrong use EPO
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.
Tygart said the agency can strip the Tour titles, though Armstrong disputed that as he insisted his decision is not an admission of drug use, but a refusal to enter an arbitration process he believes is unfair.
"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."
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.
Watch a "60 Minutes" interview from May with cyclist Tyler Hamilton, who said Lance Armstrong was using a banned drug called "EPO":
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.
Floyd Landis reaches deal on fraud counts
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.
Watch "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley talk about his investigation for "60 Minutes" into teammates' charges that Lance Armstrong used banned drugs:
"There is zero physical evidence to support (the) outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of (doping) controls I have passed with flying colors," Armstrong said.
Armstrong sued USADA in Austin, where he lives, in an attempt to block the case and was supported by the UCI, the sport's governing body. 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.
Now the ultra-competitive Armstrong has done something virtually unthinkable for him: He has quit before a fight is over.
"Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. 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 said.
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NO. maybe it means he has a LIFE and wants to live it? how long is he supposed to deny it he should say "tests were always clean. end of story. i'm not going to justify further allegations with comment. if you have proof i did, then put your cards on the table. otherwise it is time to move on. if they have nothing better to do, maybe they'd rather i just take them to court for their continuous slanderous allegations?"
Seems to me the review/arbitration process is not impartial.
Do you realize that Mr. Armstrong had testicular cancer and had to have his testicles (at least one) removed years before he even met Sheryl Crow?
.....
Probably because of doping.
I'm sure he had a fake small one implanted with saline solution to match the other tiny one.
Your logic is not very sound.
Do you think all people that get testicular cancer are doppers?
by Transatlantique August 24, 2012 4:59 AM EDT
Testicular cancer is a direct symptom of steroids taking. Why hasn't anyone pointed this out? I can see Armstrong's exhaustion and refusal to go any further with this if it isn't true, but what if it is true and he is just in denial? What if he has been telling himself that its not true for so long that he really believes it?
What if, what if, what if.....
IF he has been taking steroids since his bout with cancer, why hasn't it come back then?
You have a allot of what if's, what if he is innocent, just as the 500 tests he has taken over his life time indicates he is?
You are both a discrace for to every cancer victom or survivor that has fought these terrible diseases.
"Armstrong, whose non-profit Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is now a leader in the fight against cancer, knows all too well the impact that cancer of any kind can have on an individual. In 1996, his own aggressive form of testicular cancer metastasized into his lymph nodes, lungs and brain. Armstrong underwent two surgeries, one to remove his cancerous testicle and another to remove two cancerous lesions on his brain. Over a three-month period, he received four rounds of chemotherapy. For these reasons, he understands that defeating cancer cannot be done alone."
As he told doctors, researchers and clinical trial participants on one of his visits to the NIH's National Cancer Institute (NCI), without their cancer research and that of others, "...quite frankly, I wouldn't be here today. And I certainly wouldn't have clipped into a pedal and started a bike race ever again."
Success stories such as Armstrong's are part of an evolving strategy in the fight against cancer, notes Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., NCI director and acting commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
That is one of the many reasons that Dr. von Eschenbach finds Lance Armstrong's story so compelling: "Lance is a cancer survivor who represents so many, many others across this country and the world who have faced the challenge of cancer," he says. "He is an example to us of what is possible, what is within our grasp;a world in which no one suffers and no one dies as a result of cancer."
Sometimes the mind will do amazing things when faced with death.
LIVE STRONG...LIVE LONG...AND BEYOND
http://www.livestrong.org/
God Bless you Lance, keep the faith!!!!!
As to those that accuse Armstrong to save themselves, more shame on you. You knew the sport you were entering when you started and you knew the risks. Now it's about having this agency and it's overpaid bureaucrats take down someone who won, using the bitter losers.
Where are the rigts of the people in this? Why are we spending our money on garbage? Why isn't this agency stripped of it's authority before any more arbitary action can be taken?
Make these clowns get real jobs and stop beating up on someone who passed 500 tests.
- 500+ tests. No failures. EVER.
- Repeated investigations, including a federal investigation, none leading to charges due to lack of evidence.
- USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency), a government funded non-profit agency, levies charges that can only be addressed in arbitration decided by a review board. Since they are not a court, the burden of proof does not have to be beyond "reasonable doubt". The defendant is not able to present witnesses or any physical evidence to refute the claims. The defendant is not permitted to know who their accusers are. The accused may provide a written statement only, to be considered by the review board. The review board is hand picked by the accuser, CEO Travis Tygart.
Wow - sounds fair right? No way to abuse a system with the judge, jury and prosecutor all on the same side and no way to defend yourself but a written statement.
There's a term for this. It's called a Kangaroo Court.
There was no way for Armstrong to beat the charges in this venue.
Congratulations Travis Tygart, you will finally get your wish. You'll be able to strip, at least officially, the best rider in the sport of his titles using nothing more for evidence than the word of known cheaters looking to strike deals. The one Floyd Landis sought will coincidentally be granted him this very morning, so good job with the back room deal on that one Mr. Tygart!
Travis Tygart should be disbarred for failing to meet his ethical obligations as a lawyer. The USADA should have it's federal funding removed, and it's power to impact athletes stripped and appointed to a unbiased and fair investigative organization.