Lance Armstrong

[bennydorano]

Walsh & Kimmages' musings should come with health warnings, Kimmage's recent tirade against Sky during the tour was a near word for word rehash of what Walsh was spouting a decade ago. It carried an element of pyschological blackmail - open yourselves to the media & prove you're not using drugs type nonsense. When i read that i actually thought he was a bit unhinged tbh.

[stew]

It's beginning to look like Armstrong knows the shit is about to hit the fan in terms of the truth coming out, I never thought he would quit like this but he has got to be beaten down at this stage.

Unless he admits taking them and apologizes for doing them I will always have my doubts about the whole saga because they have been going after him mercilessly for years.

I suppose I am hoping he was clean but it is beginning to look like was a fraud all along.

[LeoMc]

I'm ambivalent about this. Nothing he could have said or done would have convinced me he was clean. On the other hand, the only evidence that would have been presented against him would be that of fellow dopers. Either way, it's not satisfactory.

Yes it is very satisfactory. Get your heads out of the sands it is hardly a BOLT from the blue that Lance Armstrong is a drug cheat. Bolt as in Usain Bolt of course. You can't watch top class international athletic pro sports being dominated by individuals or teams without watching drug cheats.

Are you saying you believe Bolt is a drug cheat?
Is it just because he is dominating the sport or is there something else?
Why not Rudisha or Farrah?

[screenexile]

I'm ambivalent about this. Nothing he could have said or done would have convinced me he was clean. On the other hand, the only evidence that would have been presented against him would be that of fellow dopers. Either way, it's not satisfactory.

Yes it is very satisfactory. Get your heads out of the sands it is hardly a BOLT from the blue that Lance Armstrong is a drug cheat. Bolt as in Usain Bolt of course. You can't watch top class international athletic pro sports being dominated by individuals or teams without watching drug cheats.

Are you saying you believe Bolt is a drug cheat?
Is it just because he is dominating the sport or is there something else?
Why not Rudisha or Farrah?

Or Wiggins . . . or McIlroy!!

[LeoMc]

As mentioned, the USADA have no powers to strip his titles of him.  Also, is it not a bit redundant with them saying they are going to ban him from cycling when he is already retired?

Without knowing a lot about the whole thing, surely the fact that he has been tested so many hundreds of times in his career is testament enough to his innocence, he couldn't have been that good at hiding the substances supposedly in his body.  What exactly have they got, a bunch of known drug cheats claiming that he was one too.  How would that stand up in court, if say for example you were charged with being a drug dealer yet there was no evidence except for 10 convicted drug dealers saying that you were one.

The reason he has been stripped of his titles by the USADA say that again the USADA notice the first two letters there US, you know" USA USA USA" not the stazi or the gestapo or the kgb but the USADA is because the sport of cycling was awash with drugs. EPO and human growth hormone make good athletes unbeatable. It was not possible for Armstrong to win all those tours without cheating against all the other cheats. This is simple really

Once again the US drag authorities do not deliberately target the US hero Lance Armstrong out of spite. Maybe they might target the Chinese or Russian hero out of spite but not the US hero. When you are accused in the wrong you do not give up because the process is unfair you keep on going. Armstrong has just shot down the expected and natural process of an open arbitration process with all the evidence being presented openly because he is guilty not because he is innocent.  His stance does not make any sense.

He is a rotten cheat and good riddance.

+1

The only reason he was never caught with all the blood tests was because of all the blood transfusion he had after doping!! 

Cheating drug dealing pr!ck that played on everyone's emotions.

How do the transfusions stop the other drugs from being detected?Were the transfusions not just adding more of his own blood back in before the race rather than actually cleaning out his system?

[LeoMc]

As mentioned, the USADA have no powers to strip his titles of him.  Also, is it not a bit redundant with them saying they are going to ban him from cycling when he is already retired?

Without knowing a lot about the whole thing, surely the fact that he has been tested so many hundreds of times in his career is testament enough to his innocence, he couldn't have been that good at hiding the substances supposedly in his body.  What exactly have they got, a bunch of known drug cheats claiming that he was one too.  How would that stand up in court, if say for example you were charged with being a drug dealer yet there was no evidence except for 10 convicted drug dealers saying that you were one.

The reason he has been stripped of his titles by the USADA say that again the USADA notice the first two letters there US, you know" USA USA USA" not the stazi or the gestapo or the kgb but the USADA is because the sport of cycling was awash with drugs. EPO and human growth hormone make good athletes unbeatable. It was not possible for Armstrong to win all those tours without cheating against all the other cheats. This is simple really

Once again the US drag authorities do not deliberately target the US hero Lance Armstrong out of spite. Maybe they might target the Chinese or Russian hero out of spite but not the US hero. When you are accused in the wrong you do not give up because the process is unfair you keep on going. Armstrong has just shot down the expected and natural process of an open arbitration process with all the evidence being presented openly because he is guilty not because he is innocent.  His stance does not make any sense.

It was not drug  pushers who testified against him but everybody from team mates to team officalls and medical staff etc. Journalists as well. Conventional heroin and cocaine dealers are a completely different animal to the people who would testify against Lance Armstrong.

He is a rotten cheat and good riddance.

Is it not their job to target US athletes?
It would be down to CADA or RADA or whomever to target Russians and Chinese?

[LeoMc]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/usada-strip-lance-armstrong-7-tour-titles-031949504--spt.html

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — With stunning swiftness, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he dropped his fight against drug charges that threatened his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.

And give them to who ?

Cha and Mia never took drugs

Or have never been caught!
If the Drug culture was so widespread and there were so many taking performance enhancing substances how could any clean athlete get near the podium in those years.

[barelegs]

If anybody has time (and you'll need a lot of it) there's an interesting cycling forum that has a section dedicated to doping. There area few headcases as with everything but some of it can be fairly interesting.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

I followed some of the discussion during the Olympics to be honest I find it hard to take quite a few performances at face value. Now I don't take everything that's said there at face value either but there are some convincing arguments presented.

P.S. They mainland European lads in 'The Clinic' really don't have any time for Team Sky!

[deiseach]

David Rudisha's performance was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. But a part of me doubts it, and that's sad

[CiKe]

David Rudisha's performance was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. But a part of me doubts it, and that's sad

If a white man could hold the record for best part of 20years having set it 30 odd years ago, then given the advances in training and nutrition, this one doesn't seem too suspicious to me. I'm starting from the basis that Seb wasn't on the juice oviously. I'm certainly hoping it isn't as I was there to see it and if turns out he was doped up, it would kind of take away from the memory!

[barelegs]

Rudisha's father was an Olympic silver medallist in 1968, so that gives me hope that it's just his genes.

He reportedly ran a 1m 48sec at altitude the first time he ever ran an 800 metres. (So Brother O'Connell claimed anyway)

I'd have more trouble believing that the fastest 3 men in the world currently over 200 metres all come from the same athletics club. Just seems to good to be true for me.

That and that Justin Gatlin could run a faster 100 metres clean this year than he could when doped. Laughable really.

[rrhf]

Lance has been an inspiration to cancer sufferers everywhere and a positive force for charity.  it's a pity if he is involved in a sport where drugs appear to be necessary for success. It doesn't change my opinion that he has been a shining light to lots of people

[Puckoon]

Lance has been an inspiration to cancer sufferers everywhere and a positive force for charity.  it's a pity if he is involved in a sport where drugs appear to be necessary for success. It doesn't change my opinion that he has been a shining light to lots of people

I'd tend to agree, I've no real interest in cycling, bar my own cycling, nor in the tour de france etc...

I never thought of Armstrong as a 7 time tour winner, but I admire his drive and dedication as a man who wouldn't give up after his illness - and the positivity that it gave many that came after him.

[Capt Pat]

Lance has been an inspiration to cancer sufferers everywhere and a positive force for charity.  it's a pity if he is involved in a sport where drugs appear to be necessary for success. It doesn't change my opinion that he has been a shining light to lots of people

That is hardly the case if he has been cheating.

[tyssam5]

Lance has been an inspiration to cancer sufferers everywhere and a positive force for charity.  it's a pity if he is involved in a sport where drugs appear to be necessary for success. It doesn't change my opinion that he has been a shining light to lots of people

That is hardly the case if he has been cheating.

I admire the fact that he got to shag Cheryl Crowe.