Posted on 10/22/2012 4:26:59 AM PDT by Perdogg
Cycling's governing body agreed Monday to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him for life, following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.
Speaking from Geneva, International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid confirmed to a news conference that UCI had decided to uphold USADA'S decision to strip Armstrong of his Tour titles.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
BTW where is your source for your statement that his test results were not at the higher side???
Since you know about EPO is it true that it is only detectable in the body for 24 hours but its effect can last 14 days.
Those are all great points, and I agree. Except....I don’t think transfusions should be illegal, because I don’t see a downside either to the competitor or to the public who might follow the example of the competitors.
Of course if I were in charge, I’d de-regulate the whole thing and say, “let the fastest bike rider win. Period.”
But that’s sort of a non-starter......
Well there are still 9 untainted ones — that we know of.
True dat. i am sure there are others too.
IMO I think professional cycling has come to a crossroads that they could use to ahem "clean up the sport".
It would be a radical thing to do and be wildly unpopular -- but here is what I would do:
1. Change all doping policy to complete no tolerance -- you fail a test and cannot prove it to be erroneous, you are BANNED FOR LIFE. Period!
2. Use the Armstrong precidence and go back through the 'doping years' (IE every year of existence) -- Any cyclist who failed a test or had proof of doping equal to that against Armstrong -- BANNED FOR LIFE and ALL RECORDS EXPUNGED. Period!
I realize this would remove almost every single winner of every race ever, and would also end up with the banning of 99.9999999999999999999999999999999% of all racers past and present, but it would allow cycling to get a "CLEAN" start and the respect of all who truly view doping as cheating.
Yes it would decimate the sport for a while, but IMO it is the only way for cycling to save itself and ever be taken seriously again.
This will teach athletes that individual accomplishment in sports is bad, that everyone deserves a first place medal, even if they come in last.
It’s not right that these ugly Americans kept winning a French race. They should have let others win. Therefore we will take away the winning after the fact, after coercing his team to turn on him or ban them as well.
“Everybody wins in the Tour de France, just like in the Special Olympics. Because all bicyclists are *special*, too.”
Hardly.
Can’t trust the French, sneaky bastards . . . getting a bunch of Americans to establish for a fact that Lance Armstrong is dirty.
I’m not sure. Never met his parents. ;-)
I guess the problem I really have about this sort of thing is that is is commonly brought to us by the same thought crowd that second guesses everything in history. Just tired of people re-writing the record.
That's one of the problems, we CANNOT trust the media. I guess everyone on FR is aware of the leftist bias in the MSM, but the real problem (pace Gov Palin) is that the media has totally forgotten the "where, what, how, when".
Part of my interest in the LA story has been to see how the media handles this story. Unfortunately, it appears that journalists are no longer able to quote the simplest statement without tweaking its meaning.
As for the low/medium blood counts it is stated by among other Dr Michele Ferrari on his blog, but also at least in one of the witness statement in the USADA report.
Yes, the way EPO (which is a natural hormone) works is that it binds to receptors on immature cells in the bone marrow. Naturally occurring EPO has a half-life around 6 hours in blood, though, recombinant EPO products usually have longer half-lifes to avoid having to give too frequent injections. Once it has bound to the receptors the formation of new blood cells will start. Therefore, a bolus dose of EPO will have an effect that lasts for days. (The exact time depends on the amount and other physical factors, such as the iron stores in the body.)
Not a big fan of Armstrong.
Still, it took them about 10 years? to finally pin something on him?
I think this is more about the French unable to deal with the idea of an American winning the TDF SEVEN TIMES.
It would be the same as a french man winning America’s Got Tallent 7 times in a row.
Sac le blue!
The SI writer may have been referencing this article:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/analysis-armstrongs-tour-blood-levels-debated
I wrote:
" Finally, we have the data for the blood tests taken during the Tour de France 2009. As noted previously the data are all well within the normal limits. A Danish researcher has pointed to, what he considers an anomaly, when Armstrong’s Hb value increased from 137 to 144 g/L from the 11 to the 14 July. However, avoiding discussion of any possible physiological variation, the fact is that the measurement error is about 1%. Add to that the blood sampling error, which is of the same magnitude, and you find that there is no statistical significant difference between the two values.
The discussion whether it is abnormal for the blood values to remain constant during week long bicycle races belongs to the scientific literature, and not to the anti-doping agencies. Some researchers have shown the Hb, and Hcr values decline during prolonged periods of physical exercise, but this is not a universal observation. Likewise, the mechanism for an exercise induced decline in Hb is not determined. Possible "culprits" are exercise induced destruction of red blood cells, reduction in iron stores, or fluid shifts in the body. Well trained individuals appear less affected than sedentary individuals."
(In my original post there followed a few links to statements by haematologists.)
Regarding the same set of data Michele Ferrari writes:
"The [Danish] study of Morkeberg et Al (Int J Sports Med 2009, 30: 130-138) shows the data of 7 (seven!) cyclists gathered during the TdF 2007.
From here to extrapolate a behavior common to all athletes, in all circumstances, is quite a stretch.
The same Authors of the study, commenting in an interview to DR Sport on Armstrong's data during the TdF 2009 (cyclingnews.com 10/09/2009), stated:
- “Of course we cannot state that he is doping” (Morkeberg)
- “Using those guidelines (of the Biologic Passport, ndr) …I have not established that there was any illegal matter in this case” (Damsgaard).
At the same time, Prof. Hans Erik Heier commented [a Norwegian haematologist]: “The Hb values are too low for it to be possible to manipolate them down there. I interpret this to mean that he must be clean”.
Eye-witness testimony is NOT hearsay. If it were, we’d almost never convict anyone in court. Hearsay is just that...someone testifying they heard someone else saying something.
The eye-witness testimony of 26+ ex team mates, employees, trainers, etc. etc. aren’t enough?
What dream world are you living in?
I find it interesting that this data comes from LA’s website as proof that his tests were clean and well within limits during this particular TdF, and yet what the data actually means is still debatable amongst the experts who analyze it.
Ding...ding...ding! You got that right! The French were completely insane with their resent and hate when they got their clocks cleaned by the uncouth American. All of this witch hunting is indicative of typical sour grapes liberals. Frankly I am surprised any conservative would buy into this cr@p.
When technology is available to provide an absolute answer, why accept sworn testimony?
Sounds like you still believe Bubba Clinton’s sworn testimony when he was lying to a Federal judge.
LOL - you trolls rejecting absolute evidence based on technology are such a hoot!
Surely thou jest.
you trolls rejecting absolute evidence based on technology are such a hoot!
Do you swear by that???
You got it! He didn't cheat, nobody ever cheated! O.J. didn't murder! Remember the glove!
The hero is a zero and many can’t accept it clinging to their conspiracy theories against true heroes!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.