Cycling has a significant doping problem
Lance Armstrong won 7 Tours De France
Lance Armstrong had cancer
If you accept those three things as fact then it would be hard to believe one (of the very few) clean rider can dominate the sport overrun with cheaters.
Armstrong's defense is that he never failed a drug test -- which is true (but there are allegations he bribed his way out of one failed test and got out of another on a technicality) -- but most likely because he was using stuff like EPO that is or was undetectable.
So why won't this go away? Because so many people who were once close to Armstrong are coming out against him.
Armstrong's former masseuse, Emma O'Reilly, claimed Armstrong once asked her to dispose of used syringes and to give him makeup to conceal needle marks on his arms.
Former teammate Steve Swart, claims he and other riders, including Armstrong, began using drugs in 1995 while members of the Motorola team.
Former personal assistant Mike Anderson claimed he discovered a box of androstenone while cleaning a bathroom in Armstrong's apartment in Girona, Spain.
Former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife Betsy said Armstrong admitted using performance-enhancing drugs to his physician just after brain surgery in 1996.
Former U.S. Postal teammate Floyd Landis accused Armstrong of doping in 2002 and 2003. Landis said he witnessed Armstrong receiving multiple blood transfusions, and dispensing testosterone patches to his teammates.
Former teammate Tyler Hamilton said he and Armstrong had together taken EPO before and during the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Tours de France.
In each case Armstrong attacks the credibility of his accuser saying they have an axe to grind with him, or they're looking for a book deal. And maybe Armstrong is such a dick that it's actually working in his favor because he really does have some kind of negative personal history with nearly all these people.
But this is a lot of circumstantial evidence piling up against him. Either Armstrong is pretty much the worst person in the world and so many people who used to be his friends are completely fabricating stories just to hurt him -- or their stories are true.
5 comments:
Did you see that 60 minutes piece a week or so ago? It was pretty damn good.
Paul I love this post but I don't know how to answer the survey. I think that he definitely cheated AND that he's a monstrous dick.
I assume ever rider is doping of some sort, which probably isn't far off. That being said, I still think his accomplishment is great, becuase if everyone was doping then the field is level again. At same time, as Damino said it is cheating and he is a dick.
I guess the real bottom line is who the fuck cares about cycling anyway!!
TON, I saw some of it, but didn't think it was compelling TV. Too much packed in. It was too long. And Tyler Hamilton looked like a reluctant witness.
Damino, yes, both are probably true. If he were only a cheater and not an asshole, he might have more loyalty from those who were once close to him. Maybe Barry Bonds wasn't such a bad guy if Greg Anderson was willing to go to the hoosegaw twice for him.
But the answer to the poll should really be a yes or no on whether he used steroids.
JLeary, the level playing field argument assumes everyone benefitted equally from the steroids. Unlikely because of differences between human physiology. For instance, maybe Armstrong naturally had more endurance, but wasn't as strong so the steroids did more for him. Or maybe the EPO helped his endurance more.
Also, you are assuming everyone was using the exact same thing. They weren't. So it's instead a contest between doctors, scientists, whomever can make the best, most effective, undetectable substances, instead of being a bike race.
There's no question in my mind he used some kind of illegal substance. He's denied so much that he's in over his head now. Where there's this much smoke...
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