Armstrong guilty, stripped of all titles since 1998.

[ECA]

What happens to money/runners up now?

 

[Tom]

I'm interested to know how the USA can strip Armstrong of titles won in France.

 

[ECA]

It's the USADA, I'm guessing as the US arm of WADA they have that authority.

 

[Job]

They can recommend it, but not actually enforce it from the US, but doing so will bring down a holy shitstorm, maybe it's needed.

 

[ECA]

Beeb is saying stripped:

Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles and banned
Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and given a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
USADA decided he used performance-enhancing drugs to achieve his success.
Armstrong, who retired a year ago, strongly denies doping.
But the anti-doping agency said Armstrong's decision not to take the charges against him to arbitration triggers the lifetime ineligibility and erased his results from 1 August 1998.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19369375

 

[ECA]

CNN a bit more accurate:

(CNN) -- Famed cyclist Lance Armstrong faces the prospect of losing seven Tour de France titles and his fabled championship legacy after he ended his fight against charges of illegal doping.
Armstrong, who has consistently denied allegations of illegal doping, made his announcement to stop battling the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's "one-sided and unfair process" move against him after losing a legal bid Monday to stop the probe.
The cyclist's decision prompted the anti-doping agency to say it will slap a lifetime ban on Armstrong and strip him of his wins since 1998 after deciding not to contest the charges.
But there's a question whether the USADA has authority in the case and whether international agencies might have to weigh in before Armstrong would face the prospect of losing his titles.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

What happens to money/runners up now?

Considering almost all of them are drug cheats... shall we just scrap mid 90s-00s from the record?

 

[Tom]

They should give his medals to the bloke in the devil suit with the trident.

 

[Job]

It's the world anti doping code, everyone is bound to recognise each countries decision and ban him, though I'm sure questions will be asked about banning someone without any actual drug failures.

 

[Lamp]

Even some paralympians are getting in on the act. Its called "Boosting" apparently

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...ers-of-self-harming-to-boost-performance.html

 

[Job]

Many doping procedures cannot be detected and that's the one's they know about, the whole thing is a farce and I can't believe the procedures athletes go through to evade detection, it requires trained medical staff, equipment, blood storage, masking agents, there must be an army of ask no questions doctors helping them out.

 

[rynnor]

It is sad that professional sportsmen are choc full of drugs these days - how many at the olympics were cheating I wonder...

 

[Bahumat]

I cheated my IQ test whilst watching the rowing

 

[Zenith.UK]

May I present the following video about quitting...

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGtfpzT4Lqw


It's kind of appropriate given that he has "given up" fighting the charges.

 

[Job]

Fuck me they got nuthin, just hearsay and they're gonna fuck up the Tour de France, they must just hate the French.
Let's see what the people who were actually responsible for testing him say.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/24/lance-armstrong-uci
A federal judge said they have the authority ORLY?, speaking for the world again eh yanks?

 

[old.Tohtori]

 

[Chilly]

Fuck me they got nuthin, just hearsay and they're gonna fuck up the Tour de France, they must just hate the French.
Let's see what the people who were actually responsible for testing him say.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/24/lance-armstrong-uci
A federal judge said they have the authority ORLY?, speaking for the world again eh yanks?

Nah, he bailed on his defence just before arbitration where previous colleagues were about to testify against him. He knew he was going to lose his wins, so he decided to do it in the least harmful way to him and his family. Understandable.

 

[BloodOmen]

inb4 suicide attempt

 

[Job]

It would appear they have retested his old samples, presumably with better equipment, I don't know how good an idea that is, imagine retesting everyone's samples in every sport, it would be carnage and they have the evidence of ten witnesses though their motivation could easily be brought into question.
He never failed a single drug test, which surely is case closed, but it seems that cycling has imploded, with accusations flying everywhere, his coach is up for investigation as well and that's going to cause more shit. Don't forget the French have all but accused our cyclists in the Olympics.
The head of world testing has come out and said he is obviously guilty bwcause he refused to testify and that on every level is exactly what he's complaining about, they have made a decision before the trial.
If he sinks he's innocent , the classic witch hunt.
No suicides Nike are still paying him.

 

[Job]

It begins, so now a French doping official is basically accusing the scientists of corruption as well.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...ested-claims-French-anti-doping-official.html

 

[cHodAX]

Tests are not infallible but one of the most encouraging pieces of evidence came at last month’s Tour de France when Sky, and indeed a sprint team like Lotto-Bellisol, habitually let the break go a long way up the road before closing it down much later in the day. They did it in the sure knowledge that they were riding against chemically unaided equals and their strength of numbers would prevail.

Wiggins said: “Someone would attack and Mick Rogers, our road captain, would say: ‘Just leave him, he can’t sustain that’. “If we are riding at 450 watts, someone else is going to have to sustain 500 watts to stay away on a 20-minute climb, which is not possible anymore unless you’ve got a couple of extra litres of blood. “If people want to see those incredible 220km lone breaks in the mountains, well maybe it’s not realistic anymore. As wonderful and as magical as they were to watch, maybe the sport’s changed now.”

Or as Brian Robinson, Britain’s first Tour stage winner in 1958 said: “It was always going to be the case. Once the sport got cleaned up that was always going to be when Britain finally produced a winner.”

Glad they put the science and the numbers in, you really can tell when someone is doping in endurance sports like that, sadly in the past the cycling authorities didn't really care enough because the sport was booming and they didn't want to hurt the growth.

 

[Job]

If ten people and the officials knew, then EVERYONE knew and this will go right to the top.

 

[cHodAX]

If ten people and the officials knew, then EVERYONE knew and this will go right to the top.

That is why those former champions are backing him, they were doping too, it has been endemic in the sport since the early 1980's at least. Those guys are still making money off the sport 15-20 years after their own glory and if the entire truth comes out they all end up shit creek. Tis why the French cycling authorities covered it up for years, the sport became so huge based on those incredible drug fuelled performances and when it finally came to light the top guys were all doping they had no choice but to try and keep a lid on it.

 

[Job]

This all falls nicely into my pet theory on cheating, it's the way forward, the very concept of it lies in such a human based viewpoint, we need to encourage it, nature did for 3 billion years and everything worked out just fine.

 

[TdC]

tbh there's a fine line between evolving/innovating (and winning) and cheating (and winning)

 

[old.Tohtori]

tbh there's a fine line between evolving/innovating (and winning) and cheating (and winning)

 

[Tom]

Oh look. He won repeatedly during a time where practically everyone in cycling was cheating. And he claims to have been clean throughout. So he's either a superhuman who performed at a higher level, for longer, than similarly-strong athletes either doped or on drugs, or he's a drug cheat.

Which is the more likely? Superhuman or cheat?

 

[TdC]

the Sheen knows all about fine lines! he is our sensei!

 

[Job]

Yes but if you cheat in an exam , who loses?
The other people in the room?
Well it's their own fault for not cheating, if we all cheated, which of course we do on a metaphysical level, then the world would work itself out.
Is building your body by pinching the info from billions of previous generations cheating?
'No mate you're gonna have to work it out yourself'

 

[Reno]

That is why those former champions are backing him, they were doping too, it has been endemic in the sport since the early 1980's at least. Those guys are still making money off the sport 15-20 years after their own glory and if the entire truth comes out they all end up shit creek. Tis why the French cycling authorities covered it up for years, the sport became so huge based on those incredible drug fuelled performances and when it finally came to light the top guys were all doping they had no choice but to try and keep a lid on it.

In cycling doping has been an issue since I think the 50's.
Merckx has been caught using doping.
Indurain is documented as having to need a nightly check if he would still live on some days. He had such a low resting pulse and thick blood, precautions had to be taken. That was part of the reason hematocrite (sp?) testing was instituted in the mid 90's, riders were using so much EPO, it became dangerous to their health.
Tommy Simpson was one of the first drugs deaths afterall in cycling.