Lance Armstrong ends fight against doping charges

[Tyrone Biggums]

By giving up like this his whole career and whole life means nothing, no records, no titles, no credibility

Wrong.

Regardless of this crap plenty of people still admire him greatly.

The guy beat cancer and tackled one of the toughest sporting pursuits in the world and used that fame to raise huges amounts of money for medical research, cancer awareness and charity.

Winner on so many levels.

 

[Stat Brother]

Wrong.

Regardless of this crap plenty of people still admire him greatly.

The guy beat cancer and tackled one of the toughest sporting pursuits in the world and used that fame to raise huges amounts of money for medical research, cancer awareness and charity.

Winner on so many levels.

That's the problem with LA.

Splitting Lance the athlete with Lance the 'brand', for want of a better word.

 

[martyn20]

IF Armstrong was taking drugs during those Tour de France victories they now mean nothing, he did it with illegal help so they don't count anymore.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

That's the problem with LA.

Splitting Lance the athlete with Lance the 'brand', for want of a better word.

The athlete still had to be there to do what he did IMO.

Regardless of what he might or might not have taken the fact is he still won all of those Tours.

This all started because Floyd Landis got caught out and like a spoilt brat just started pointing fingers at riders left right and centre.

My view on this is do you believe someone who's admitted to cheating when he accuses others of cheating. I wouldn't.

 

[Stat Brother]

The athlete still had to be there to do what he did IMO.

Very true, but 'the brand' (FWOABWord) now far outweighs a bike race round France.

But as the 2 are connected, the trifling matter of going after a probably cheat.
Becomes bringing down a massive charitable organisation with more goodwill than you can shake a stick at.

I bet if there was an 'admit what you've done and nothing will change' option, LA would have said it's a 'fair cop'.

There isn't, so Lance has to remain on his pedestal to protect everything else.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

This all started because Floyd Landis got caught out and like a spoilt brat just started pointing fingers at riders left right and centre.

My view on this is do you believe someone who's admitted to cheating when he accuses others of cheating. I wouldn't.

Indeed. Particularly given that he was caught red-handed after winning a stage in spectacular style after looking absolutely f***ed the day before.

He then proceeds to say that whilst with US Postal he saw Lance and all the others doing it all the time and that's how he was introduced to it. Well, why did he not have this amazing undetectable strain of EPO 2 years later?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Looks like USADA and WADA are already jumping that bit - both claiming in the press that this counts as an admission of guilt, I suspect we will never hear the testimonies or see the evidence that they speak of.

Strange definition of guilty. I'd say this makes them look a bit stupid and unfit for purpose if they are suggesting guilt based on providing no evidence. Mind you, the tabloids have used the 'no smoke without fire' definition for decades now.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Winner on so many levels.

And he got to bend one in Sheryl Crow.

 

[Normal Rob]

just wondering - has LA ever done, or been offered, a lie detector test?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

And he got to bend one in Sheryl Crow.

Sheryl Crow and mountains of drugs. Who's the looser eh? Not LA for sure.

 

[Gritt23]

There isn't, so Lance has to remain on his pedestal to protect everything else.

Or he remains on the pedestal because there is nothing in this. m Is there any more than we've seen from the French asking questions about our Olympic cycling team, or the quiet little mutterings that are going on about Wiggins dominant victory in this years Tour. If Wiggins wins another 6, those little mutterings becomes shouts of derision. Unfortunately cycling suffers another sad day as there are plenty of people who seem to think that anyone succesful in cycling must be guilty of something to have won in the first place.

As a cycling fan, I find this whole thing very sad, and depressing.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

just wondering - has LA ever done, or been offered, a lie detector test?

FFS, they're a load of crap. Everyone knows this.

 

[Triggaaar]

The athlete still had to be there to do what he did IMO.

Regardless of what he might or might not have taken the fact is he still won all of those Tours.

And Ben Johnson won the 100m at the '88 Oylimpics. And Marion Jones won in Sydney. Etc.

My view on this is do you believe someone who's admitted to cheating when he accuses others of cheating. I wouldn't.

I wouldn't assume Lance has cheated because 1 other cheater says he did, but then no one would. There's a lot more evidence than one person's word. There were a lot of cheats then though, and no one could have beaten them all if they weren't also cheating.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

And Ben Johnson won the 100m at the '88 Oylimpics. And Marion Jones won in Sydney. Etc.

I wouldn't assume Lance has cheated because 1 other cheater says he did, but then no one would. There's a lot more evidence than one person's word. There were a lot of cheats then though, and no one could have beaten them all if they weren't also cheating.

But that's just a hypothesis.

 

[Triggaaar]

But that's just a hypothesis.

That doesn't make it wrong though. It's reported that Kim Jong Il shot 11 holes in one in one round of golf. I think the reports are false, but that's just my hypothesis.

 

[Seagull58]

Exactly. If his record had been clean, it would have been one of the best records in the history of sport, and you'd rather die and keep it than just give in and give it up. But given that most of the rest of the field were doping, I don't see how anyone could ever think he wasn't.

3 of the people in his entourage in the US Postal team have already been convicted, 2 more are fighting charges, several of his ex-teammates have been convicted, there have been a number of accusations against him over the years, riders and others are queueing up to testify against him. He knows he will lose if he contests the charges so he sees this as the only option; don't fight the charges and just hope people will believe they're trumped up. As with Ben Johnson he was a good athlete who achieved remarkable successes through doping.

 

[Normal Rob]

FFS, they're a load of crap. Everyone knows this.

you'd better tell this man then...

 

[m20gull]

I'm no apologist. I just cannot see how he can prove he did not dope.

 

[Triggaaar]

3 of the people in his entourage in the US Postal team have already been convicted, 2 more are fighting charges, several of his ex-teammates have been convicted, there have been a number of accusations against him over the years, riders and others are queueing up to testify against him. He knows he will lose if he contests the charges so he sees this as the only option

To suggest he's innocent yet knows he will lose the case is madness. He knows he'll lose it because he's guilty. It's a serious accusation, other riders wouldn't be queuing up to testify just because he's been arrogant etc (maybe one, but not loads).

As with Ben Johnson he was a good athlete who achieved remarkable successes through doping.

Er, what success did BJ ever achieve without doping? Certainly nothing remarkable.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

To suggest he's innocent yet knows he will lose the case is madness. He knows he'll lose it because he's guilty. It's a serious accusation, other riders wouldn't be queuing up to testify just because he's been arrogant etc (maybe one, but not loads).
.

The argument is that they're queueing up because they have been either a) cut deals for their own indescrepencies b) been blackmailed along the lines of "we are taking Armstrong down, want to go down with him or not".