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John
John Romano is a well known and controversial writer and champion of the Libertarian cause.  For 18 years he held the position of Senior Editor at Muscular Development magazine. He also contributed to Fitness Rx for Women magazine as well as Fitness RX for Men magazine.  He also authored and co-authored several books in the bodybuilding and fitness field.
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Lance Armstrong May Not Have Titles, But He's Still a Winner

by: John Romano

Since 1999, Lance Armstrong has been the target of numerous federally funded investigations alleging he used performance enhancing drugs to win seven Tour de France victories, as well as a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Games. Over these past few weeks, he gave up his fight against those allegations prompting the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to strip Armstrong of all seven Tour de France titles and issue him a lifetime ban from the sport from which he retired in 2011.

It is important to note that an investigation led by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded in February, 2012. After almost two years of investigation, and millions of US tax dollars spent, the DOJ decided there wasn’t enough evidence to continue the investigation. In fact, there is no evidence against Armstrong whatsoever other than alleged eye witness accounts from several anonymous snitches. He has never failed a drug test.

In the doping world, when they catch you with drugs in your system, it's a failed test (i.e. you've tested positive); at that point, there's very little credibility in denying that you've used something you weren't allowed to. When they catch you with drugs in your possession (or being sent to you), it can be a "non-analytic positive." This is also very difficult to justify without resorting to the old high-school ploy of "I was holding it for a friend." Any of these scenarios are difficult to fight, much less win.

Regarding USADA’s decision, last week a federal judge wrote, “USADA’s conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives.”

Ya think? It’s interesting that the multi-million dollar DOJ probe into Armstrong comes at the hand of the notorious federal agent who can’t seem to bust a drug cheat no matter how hard he tries. From BALCO, to Bonds, to Marion Jones, to Clements and now Armstrong, Federal Agent Jeff Novitzky can’t get a major conviction. He does, however, spend millions and millions of tax payer dollars destroying lives and ruining careers in his quest to make a name for himself and get a lucrative book deal.

Armstrong has been found guilty by virtue of the infamous "non-analytical positive" – not a drug test, not drugs in his possession, not drugs being send to him through the mail, but rather the testimony of incredulous snitches: the same way that former US sprint champion Marion Jones was stripped of her medals. The case against him is simply based on people saying that Armstrong, a guy who has passed literally hundreds of drug tests, had actually used drugs. That's it.

This is sad commentary indeed for one of America’s most adored champions. Identifying the precise moment where the once world's greatest cyclist fell from grace isn’t easy.

Could it have been in 1999, the year of his first Tour win? Armstrong is alleged to have "bullied" a young French cyclist, Christophe Bassons who alleged athletes were doping on the Tour, telling him "he would be better off going home.”

Perhaps it was it in 2004, when the French anti-doping laboratory identified six positive results for erythropoietin (EPO) from a batch of 15 frozen urine samples taken from riders during the 1999 Tour. The sports newspaper L'Equipe subsequently matched blood-sample records of one of the positives as belonging to Armstrong and printed the news. The lab was conducting retrospective research using a new test for EPO.

Or, was Armstrong’s downfall marked two years ago when Floyd Landis – disgraced 2006 Tour de France winner and Armstrong's former team-mate who was stripped of his title after testing positive for banned substances – met special agent Jeff Novitzky, to describe how he had seen the seven-times Tour champion doping in his own apartment? Hmm... My bet goes to Novitzky, and I’ll tell you why:

In the BALCO case, engineered by Novitzky, all the wrong people were prosecuted. It is perhaps the only so-called “drug investigation” in which the dealers and the manufacturers were given plea deals in order to throw the book at the users because the users were big name sports stars being tracked tenaciously by Novitzky. Clearly, it was federally funded big-game hunting, not justice. The entire affair revolved around one rogue investigator’s hunger for fame, a book deal, and his personal quest to hang the mounted heads of star athletes’ on his wall – namely Barry Bonds. Meanwhile, the Fourth Amendment was kicked around like a red-headed step child.

The link between Novitzky and USADA is undeniable, because once the federal investigation into Armstrong was rightfully closed, it was handed off to USADA. If the DOJ couldn’t get him, there is no way I can’t believe that Novitzky wouldn’t make sure USADA would. And they did because, like Novitzky, the CEO of USADA answers to no one. How else does an agency that is supposed to regulate drug testing strip a guy of seven titles and a bronze medal without a single positive drug test? Forget about whether or not Armstrong is guilty; how is it that an American agency (private, non-profit, that gets 65% of its operating budget from Federal grants) can decide to invalidate victories earned in Europe, in a sport it doesn’t control, based on the anonymous testimony of snitches such as Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton (themselves caught cheating and looking to make a deal)?

Better yet, how is it that an organization, that gets 65% of its funding from the American tax payers, can muddle in the business of a European sport in order to flout due process and the rights of an American citizen? The same way Operation Gear Grinder sought to arrest Mexican citizens for producing steroids, legally in Mexico, because a minute fraction of those steroids ended up smuggled into the US. It is because federal agents can do whatever they want, especially if their quest is of the noble decree: “save our children.” It seems any means to increase performance in sports, and those who perpetuate it, are deemed persona non grata in the US by design of federal agents who don’t seem to have to answer for their immense waste of taxpayer dollars. Last I checked, there has been no American outcry to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven tour victories because US citizens were outraged he may have cheated.

And guess what? The people who he beat in those races, the guys who came in second place - each and every one of them have already been charged and found guilty of their own doping violations! (Hat tip to Deadspin on that one).

Armstrong’s camp said it’s only the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organizers of the Tour de France that can make a decision on whether to strip Armstrong’s titles. There also is the question of the statute of limitations set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which typically is limited to eight years. That would mean only Armstrong’s final two Tour tiles (2004 and 2005) would be at risk, although USADA claims an ongoing doping conspiracy resets the clock, a convenient caveat that puts all of his titles at risk.

“This investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs,” Armstrong wrote in a statement. “I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own 8-year limitation.”

USADA CEO Travis Tygart told The Associated Press that the UCI must abide by the WADA code and strip Armstrong of all his wins dating back to 1998, which also include his bronze medal from the 2000 Summer Games. The decision would also allow organizers to seek repayment of any prize money that Armstrong received. That’s total BS.

Considering Armstrong is retired and knee deep into his work with his cancer foundation that accomplishes more beneficence before 9:30 AM on any given day than USADA or Jeff Novitzky have done in their lifetimes, this ban is pretty much moot. However, if these fools in charge continue their misguided persecutions then I expect they will continue to raid cycling of the likes of Eddy Merckx, Miquel Induran, Bernard Hinault, and, what the hell, go after the dead guys too - Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil and Lous Ocana - if dead Democrats can vote then dead cyclist can be banned. They were all awesome cyclists and Tour champions. Did they dope? There was either no suitable testing at the time or no testing at all, but some of the samples could be frozen somewhere. Maybe Tyler Hamilton or Floyd Landis can tell us where? What the hell, just defame them all! The US government is footing the bill and Tygart and Novitzky seem to have no problem spending millions to ruin the careers of men who’s jock straps they couldn’t carry.

I admire Lance Armstrong. He has done what no cyclist in the history of the world has done. No amount of negative press or the unceremonious stripping of his wins will tarnish his image among those of us who watched and marveled at his career. The idea that any PED use may have made him a champion is ludicrous. If that were so then virtually anyone could inject a bottle of EPO, put on Lance's uniform and win 7 Tours with a stop to battle cancer. Clearly, Lance is a special athlete. No one can possibly doubt that. With or without drugs Lance will always be a 7 time Tour winner and an Olympic champion. To tell USADA to shove it was the right thing to do. He would have spent millions to end up in the same boat as Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Roger Clemens, et al. Lance proved his point, now he moves on with his life and with his foundation to continue the good work he's doing while USADA and Jeff Novitzky can waddle in failure and public condemnation.

Congratulations Lance!! You won again!





CATEGORY: Industry News

Comments:

allister yee

Lancer Armstrong is a winner, clearly 99.9% of the human population can not achieve what he has done sports wise. Drugs or not. You are still a winner. Its all just a matter of rules and interpretation of them. I would like to see all the opinionated negative people prove Lance Armstrong they can do what he has done. Don;t judge him unless you are just as his equal or even better!!!! Only a teacher can judge you as they are better than you. That means only 0.01% should be judging Lance of which i believe he welcomes the positive improvements. :D

September 19, 2012