Is he guilty of doping or innocent?
Innocent. He never went near the Penn State showers.
Oh he's guilty alright, they've got too much on him.
Armstrong passed all the regulation tests that were given before, during and after every race. According to the rules of that day, he passed all the tests, won and Game over, he is legendary.
Bringing to light anything that has been found out due to better scientific findings and tests are irrelevant to the original conclusions of past races.
Everyone on the circuit does something to enhance their abilities. They can compete if they stay within the guidelines.
Do we now go back thru history and disqualify everyone that has ever beat the system.
A normal person could not compete in these highly classified and technical events because these athletes must adhere to strict diets. Normal people intake many substances daily that will disqualify themselves from this level of competition.
They are putting him on display and pestering him as though he is Houdini and now the officials want to know the secrets to his magic.
In the past doctors and scientists alike have put Armstrong thru a barrage of stress analysis and conditioning tests of every kind from breathing to testing his sweat.
Somebody he beat spews in a tell all book and the witch hunt began by those that have trailed Armstrong since his first win.
If the naysayers have their say, they will find a fault with every legend that has ever been made.
We are men, given a chance, we do what we must to gain what we want.
They can never prove that he doped.
They can only find people that say that he did and by their admission, they prove themselves guilty.
If he is found guilty and striped of his victories and winnings, the entire sport has failed.
0.02
Hear, hear. Blood doping is part of chemo and was approved at the time he was competing as a medical procedure. Monday morning quarterbacking at this point is just not right, the man is legend and should be shown the respect he deserves.
I wanted badly to believe Armstrong was innocent and being railroaded by a bunch of whiny Europeans who were upset over him destroying them year after year. But, it looks like he's as guilty as they come, with his own teammates coming out against him. Sucks, but it is rare that a cyclist isn't cheating these days.
IF Lance died of cancer
IF Lance would have died of cancer we would never be having this conversation.
The question is.... How deep into the cycling world are they going to go with this level of testing?? What if they have to go back to like the 200th finisher to actually get a guy that passes the current tests??
If they don't have the blood on hand for every one of those cyclists from those races to put through those tests, then I say that's just wrong.
Hasn't body building just gone to no testing but has a whole separate competition for Non-drug takers?? maybe cycling could do that too..
Lets just ban all competition, problem solved.
> Lets just ban all competition, problem solved.
Better idea than that.....let competitors take any drug or use any medical proceedure they want.
[sarcasm]If it helps them win, why not....it's a more exciting event, right?[/sarcasm]
Think about it......can you imagine the following people on steroids:
Jim Brown, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Laurence Taylor?
Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Joe Dimaggio?
Bobby Orr, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Jean Beliveau, Ken Dryden?
Steve Prefontaine, Edwin Moses, Sebastian Coe, Wilma Rudolph, Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson?
Muhammed Ali, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Sugar Ray Robinson?
Pele, Diego Maradonna, Giorgio Chinalia?
> Steve Prefontaine
"Sucks, but it is rare that a cyclist isn't cheating these days."
This is unfortunately very true. I've been a amateur competitive cyclist for over ten years and even I see this at my level. Not the blood doping necessarily, but racers taking substances banned by the USCF to try to gain an edge.
I remember watching those tours and thinking how amazing he was. Really un-beatable. It makes sense now. There was so much money behind him, I'm sure they found ways to hide the doping and make it go away. Additionally, how could he possibly wipe the floor with these other guys who were doping, if he wasnt?
These tour-de-france racers need to be in peak physical fitness, and then some. I train almost daily in the on season, hit the gym 4 times a week in the off season, watch what I eat, etc., and still there is no way I could sustain the effort that they put out for these races. What is required of these guys to compete, let alone win, is almost superhuman. It's no wonder this is so widespread.
It's really a shame, so many people looked up to Lance for inspiration. Hopefully his Livestrong foundation doesnt suffer from this, that would really be tragic.
-V
> Sucks, but it is rare that a cyclist isn't cheating these days.
The son of a very good friend of mine was on the track team in college, running short and middle distances.
At one point one of his coaches told him flat out that if he wanted to move to "the next level", he was going to have to start taking something to enhance his performance. He says it was made clear that "everybody does it".
To his credit, he didn't, and eventually left the team and moved on to something else (FDNY 9-11 first responder, now retired).
:good: Second all of that.
If he was French, all of this would have been avoided! Remember, Bernard Hinault? It seemed common knowledge that he and everyone else was drugging in the 70's and 80's. Last I heard He is still a hero in France.
I guess I don't understand the problem.
Lance Armstrong was able to pedal his bicycle faster than the rest of the field. What do I care how he did it?
