Posted on 10/13/2012 4:13:16 AM PDT by GonzoII
The evidence presented in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's 202-page report on Lance Armstrong's alleged years of doping, scheming, pushing and evading is, according to its authors, "beyond strong." Even so, the case against Armstrong doesn't involve any definitive failed drug tests, a fact that the former seven-time Tour de France winner has long used to shield his claims to innocence.
So if Armstrong is the inveterate doper the USADA claims he is, how did he manage to avoid an unambiguous positive test during more than a decade of pro cycling?
Below is a rundown of the doping practices the USADA accuses Armstrong of using, and an explanation of how, in each case, he might have covered his tracks for so long. [How Did Armstrong Get Busted?]
Erythropoietin (EPO): A synthetic version of this naturally occurring hormone is used by cheating athletes to boost red blood cell counts, a change that temporarily supercharges endurance by increasing muscles' oxygen-carrying capacity. Before 2000, no test existed to distinguish the synthetic version of the hormone from its natural counterpart, so as long as athletes took doses that would keep their hematocrit (a measure of the volume percentage of blood made up of red blood cells) in a plausible range (below 50 percent), they could use this drug with impunity. And the report alleges that Armstrong's pre-2000 team did just that, fueling its 1999 Tour de France win....
(Excerpt) Read more at lifeslittlemysteries.com ...
I’ll grant there are plenty of exceptions, but as a group, there aren’t many folks more self-righteous than cyclists. I find it amusing that at the highest level they may all be cheats.
They broke the rules and if they all are using, none of them has any integrity. Hey I can win Monopoly if I say I get to move the number of spaces I need to get to Park Avenue and not the number the die says I get to move.
you know, if they just want to ride the route and not follow the rules, they don’t have to apply to follow the rules. just be like “professional” wrestling, ride the route fast and say you are better than the ones that adhered to the rules.
Not all, according to this commenter to a recent article who makes a valid point:
bigmountainsmallman Mon, 2012-08-27 13:28
“Lance is a cheater. Please stop glorifying the cheater. Lance and company stole the dreams of cyclists who are honest and wouldn’t cheat. It often meant leaving the sport, which many talented and honest riders did, or racing at a lower level and making very little money despite the same sacrifices, or sticking to a cleaner part of the sport like mountain biking. The honest cyclists train just as hard as the cheaters, and some likely also have the “tactical savvy, skill, and other elusive qualities only the greatest of champions possess” they just don’t have that extra “Euro gear” that cheaters like Lance and company made necessary to compete. Oh, and honest cyclists are completely ignored by Bicycling.com while cheaters are glorified.”
Armstong’s biggest problem here was himself. He was (and is) just a vindictive asshole. You have to be a really big jerk to come off that way in your own autobiography. Had he been a likeable person who demonstrated fierce loyalty to his team members and staff over the years, they would have kept their mouths shut and fought to support him. As it ended up, they couldn’t trip over themselves fast enough to turn him in.
I say this as a huge Armstrong fan, and an avid cyclist myself. If anything, he leveled the playing field for himself by using these substances as the sport is rife with it. But Armstrong in the end was his own worst enemy.
No proof !?
He tested +, read their report.
No proof!?
26 individuals` legal affidavits and + tests would convict anyone in legal jurisprudence. Let him sue for defamtaion. I`ll bet 1 G he won`t or if he does will fail.
I`m ashamed that so called “freepers” are acting exactly like Obamabots, emoting not thinking.
a lot of allegations and theory but no proof at all. doesn’t seem right
500 tests is an inflated number put out by Armstrong’s people as part of a PR campaign.
Armstrong isn’t unique in having a large heart. It’s common in elite cyclists.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3002830
They will void them because the guys that finished 2nd in every one all eventually tested positive in a drug test.
It’s become a sick obsession. Vast conspiracies, endless “investigations”, conviction upon accusation, a 1000 page report! No wonder Armstrong says “Enough!”
He would have had over 100 in the TDF alone assuming he was leading 15 stages on average for just his 7 TDF wins. Count all the other races and the number of times in the off season and that number can add up very very fast. Not to mention that the USADA could easily refute the number to take away the PR.
Did you read all the evidence and testimony in the report???
Nothing but a waste of taxpayer money to illegally target a private citizen for government slander.
Best estimates put the number of times Armstrong has been tested in the mid-200’s. That’s a far cry from the 500-600 number that people use to try to prop up Armstrong’s crumbling reutation.
It’s not taxpayer money. Here’s what wiki says:
In October 1999, the USOC created the USADA to begin operation in October 2000. USADA’s status and alleged independence from the USOC contrasts the norm in the United States in which most professional sport organizations (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) manage the anti-doping aspects of their sports. As a result of USADA’s ongoing multi-year contracts with the USOC and the sport national governing bodies (USA Track & Field, USA Cycling, USA Swimming, US Soccer, etc.) the agency is responsible for managing the anti-doping programs including testing and results management for each sport’s athletes and events throughout the year. Despite its name and status as the country’s official anti doping organization, USADA is a private organization and not subject to government oversight.
Now the 32 million dollars that LA and his team were paid by the USPS over just 4 years — that was taxpayer money.
“Now the 32 million dollars that LA and his team were paid by the USPS over just 4 years — that was taxpayer money.”
That’s a bit misleading. It wasn’t tax money. It was money raised by the USPS through other means. Technically money that belonged to the citizenry though. Maybe a distinction without a difference.
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