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Hall of Fame
Leave the man alone, pse.
Wire: BLOOMBERG Sports (BSP) Date: Jun 14 2012 6:52:21
Armstrong Says He May Lose Seven Tour Titles in Doping Probe (2)
(Updates with USADA comments in paragraphs 3-4, details of
corporate sponsors in ninth paragraph.)
By Mason Levinson and Michael Buteau
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency brought
doping charges against Lance Armstrong that may cost him his
record seven Tour de France titles, the cyclist said.
Armstrong also is banned immediately from competing in
triathlons organized by the World Triathlon Corp., which runs
the Ironman series, because of the investigation.
Armstrong, three doctors and two officials from the
cyclist’s former U.S. Postal Service team were notified of the
doping allegations yesterday, USADA Chief Executive Officer
Travis Tygart said in an e-mailed statement. The letter is the
first step in the legal process for alleged doping violations,
Tygart said.
“USADA only initiates matters supported by the evidence,”
Tygart said. “We do not choose whether or not we do our job
based on outside pressures, intimidation or for any reason other
than the evidence.”
Armstrong called the charges “baseless.”
“I have been notified that USADA, an organization largely
funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written
rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating
back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a
triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France
victories I earned,” Armstrong said.
The USADA charges, first reported today by the Washington
Post, come after Armstrong’s attorney said the cyclist failed to
meet with the agency by June 8, four days after receiving a
letter offering him an “opportunity to talk about drug use in
cycling.” Robert Luskin, Armstrong’s attorney, wrote in a
letter to USADA that the meeting was a “demand wrapped in a
threat” seeking Armstrong’s confession.
‘This Charade’
“We will not be party to this charade,” Luskin wrote in
the June 8 letter. “Lance has publicly and repeatedly made
clear that he never doped.”
Armstrong, who has endorsement agreements with Nike Inc.,
Trek Bicycle Corp. and Oakley Inc., was scheduled to race his
first professional full Ironman event June 24 in Nice, France,
to try to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii
on Oct. 13. World Triathlon has an agreement with Armstrong’s
Texas-based Livestrong charity.
Comcast Corp.’s NBC network said last week it planned to
air this year’s championship race on Oct. 27, six weeks earlier
than usual, and expand the coverage to two hours from 90
minutes. The network said the coverage was expected to focus
heavily on Armstrong.
UCI Statement
Cycling’s world governing body, the International Cycling
Union or UCI, said in a statement that it had been notified of
USADA’s probe. It didn’t identify any of the people involved.
USADA made previously unpublicized allegations against
Armstrong, saying it collected blood samples from him in 2009
and 2010 that were “fully consistent with blood manipulation
including EPO use and/or blood transfusions,” the Post said.
The newspaper cited what it said was a 15-page charging letter
that was sent to Armstrong and several others yesterday, a copy
of which it obtained.
EPO is the abbreviation for erythropoietin, which can add
energy-boosting properties to blood. Doping authorities say that
drug, and transfused blood, have been used by athletes in
endurance sports such as cycling and cross-country skiing to
increase performance.
No Tests
Armstrong never has been publicly identified as testing
positive for performance-enhancing drugs. On Feb. 4, the U.S.
attorney in Los Angeles ended a criminal drug probe involving
Armstrong and his professional bicycle racing team without
filing charges.
USADA also alleges that Armstrong and five former cycling
team associates engaged in a massive doping conspiracy from 1998
to 2011, the Post said.
“These are the very same charges and the same witnesses
that the Justice Department chose not to pursue after a two-year
investigation,” Armstrong said in his statement. “These
charges are baseless, motivated by spite and advanced through
testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and
immunity. Although USADA alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy
extended over more than 16 years, I am the only athlete it has
chosen to charge. USADA’s malice, its methods, its star-chamber
practices and its decision to punish first and adjudicate later
all are at odds with our ideals of fairness and fair play.”
Tour Streak
Armstrong, 40, won the Tour de France, cycling’s most
prestigious event, each year from 1999 to 2005 after surviving
testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs.
He also has helped bring more attention to triathlon since
he returned to the sport on Feb. 12 in Panama, where he finished
second in his first half Ironman 70.3-mile (113-kilometer) race.
He won his last two half Ironman events, which feature a 1.2-
mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run. Armstrong
competed as a professional triathlete at 18 before focusing on
cycling.
World Triathlon Corp. rules “dictate an athlete is
ineligible to compete during an open investigation,” the agency
said in an e-mailed statement.
“Armstrong is therefore suspended from competing in WTC-
owned and licensed races pending further review,” according to
the statement.
