Lance Armstrong Stripped of 7 Titles

[BendtheBar]

News from The Associated Press

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.

Travis Tygart, USADA's chief executive, said Armstrong would also be hit with a lifetime ban on Friday.

[BigJosh]

Wow. Crazy.

[IronWill]

They're all doing it yet he was still the king. What the diff? It's a shame.

[Tannhauser]

From that article:

"USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles," he said. "I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours."

Armstrong's comments notwithstanding, USADA has exercised its power to sanction athletes and strip their results regularly. Its website shows that it has issued 21 sanctions in 2012 so far in sports ranging from cycling to track to boxing to judo, with 17 of the athletes losing their results.

[5kgLifter]

Wow, so does that mean they give the person that came in second the first place for those Tours and so forth? I also wonder how that affects him as a triathlete now which is what he's up to these days, from what I saw in a mag.

[Jen]

Chris Kluwe of the MN Vikings tweeted the following:

"Is nothing sacred anymore? You're telling me Lance Armstrong didn't have enough balls to win the Tour de France on his own? #toosoon?"

LOL

[MC]

Si.com is running a front-pager that basically says the Lance is betting on the fact the most people won't care if he's used drugs. And I think he's right.

From the article:

He is banking on one thing here: That we don't care if he used drugs.

He is probably right.

We don't care.

Admit it: We ... don't ... care.

If athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs are criminals, then Armstrong pulled off the perfect crime. Most Americans only cared about the Tour de France because Armstrong won it; if you take away those wins, then we don't care about the event anymore. Genius.

Barry Bonds toppled Hank Aaron for a coveted record. Armstrong stole an ugly yellow shirt from the French. So what? Livestrong, man.

Sure, there were some cyclists who lost their chance at their dream because they refused to take drugs. I feel genuinely horrible for them. It isn't fair. But I suspect most Americans figure that hey, you take a risk when you go biking in the mountains. Next time, call a cab.

[J_Byrd]

My issue with the whole thing is he never failed a drug test! Look I know the drugs are miles ahead of the test, but you cant take away what he has done based off the word of other drug users. Its a shame that it has come to this.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by J_Byrd

My issue with the whole thing is he never failed a drug test! Look I know the drugs are miles ahead of the test, but you cant take away what he has done based off the word of other drug users. Its a shame that it has come to this.

Yeah, I agree; if the others were given immunity for their input as to "what went on", which I assume they were, that should not have been the case either, since anybody can weave a story about anybody at any given point in time...if there was something to be said, it should have be disclosed at the time things were occurring not when someone possibly decided they had an axe to grind.

That's not to say it never occurred, of course, just that people waiting years and then not having any comeback on themselves, is just wrong, especially when they were all adults at that time as well, so it's not as if their silence was done to protect a child or some similar reasoning.

[emekajokammor]

Doesn't matter if he did or not, Lance is a warrior in my book. Nobody has ever come close to what he has accomplished as a cyclist. Drugs or not.