This makes it OK, that's why he vehemently denies it. :nod:

 

I didn't say that makes it ok. I just said that a lot of people did it back then.

Well I assumed this- because you're pissed at the organisation that's trying to bring justice to immoral behaviour?

Freaking USADA. Tearing Armstrong's life apart piece by piece. Or should I say evidence by evidence. Everybody did it back then. Every sport had/s it's users. The USADA is such a waste of money. They can't "Erase" somebody's wins even if they tried.

 

Yes they can, they will, and they have. All US athletes sign up to their code of practice and by the USADA's signatury relationship to WADA they have to comply with WADA and their doping controls.

 

The UCI are the only ones who can un-ratify the decision of USADA but won't in this case refer the decision to CAS. The UCI are already in deep shit for their handling of the 94/5 to 2005/6 era where this all happened. They simply won't touch this.

 

Because everyone did it, doesn't mean it's right. As I mentioned earlier this wasn't just LA & USPostal. This went on in most pro teams in the mid-late 90's and early 2000's. It's just to most Americans the Tour de France is the only bike race that exists. It's not. It's just the biggest media circus. The influx of money into cycling through TV and US sports interest escalated the price of success & failure which lead to this drug enduced arms race. LA was the golden boy / godfather of the peleton for that era. He's got the most to lose by far.

 

It's not just cycling that was/is involved. Football, tennis, athletics amongst others have their hidden past in this era. Operation puerto and a similar one in Italy showed this. It lead to andi-doping legislation in Italy which criminalises doping.

 

WADA was set up as a result of the festina affair in 98. But the endemic code of silence and the money that fueled it meant that it was hard to progress. Retrospective sample testing kick-started a lot of the clean up. The biological passport, wherabouts system, epo/era tests all have been driven by cyclings need to clean up it's act.

 

It's now one of, if not the cleanest sports out there. Riders are tested in/out of competition more times than all other sports put together.

 

Football... now that is a sport that has problems. Currently they don't have a systemic epo/cera/ hGH testing program. The major teams would shit themselves if it did!

 

I raced through this era. I stopped cos I was sick of the blatant cheating that was going on. It's a sport I love though I don't compete any more. I've only started watching again in the last few years. Still not a fan of the TdF. It's just a media jamboree and the racing is pretty crap. Now Paris-Roubaix, Flanders, Strade Bianchi. That's racing! :)

Yes they can, they will, and they have. All US athletes sign up to their code of practice and by the USADA's signatury relationship to WADA they have to comply with WADA and their doping controls.

 

The UCI are the only ones who can un-ratify the decision of USADA but won't in this case refer the decision to CAS. The UCI are already in deep shit for their handling of the 94/5 to 2005/6 era where this all happened. They simply won't touch this.

 

Because everyone did it, doesn't mean it's right. As I mentioned earlier this wasn't just LA & USPostal. This went on in most pro teams in the mid-late 90's and early 2000's. It's just to most Americans the Tour de France is the only bike race that exists. It's not. It's just the biggest media circus. The influx of money into cycling through TV and US sports interest escalated the price of success & failure which lead to this drug enduced arms race. LA was the golden boy / godfather of the peleton for that era. He's got the most to lose by far.

 

It's not just cycling that was/is involved. Football, tennis, athletics amongst others have their hidden past in this era. Operation puerto and a similar one in Italy showed this. It lead to andi-doping legislation in Italy which criminalises doping.

 

WADA was set up as a result of the festina affair in 98. But the endemic code of silence and the money that fueled it meant that it was hard to progress. Retrospective sample testing kick-started a lot of the clean up. The biological passport, wherabouts system, epo/era tests all have been driven by cyclings need to clean up it's act.

 

It's now one of, if not the cleanest sports out there. Riders are tested in/out of competition more times than all other sports put together.

 

Football... now that is a sport that has problems. Currently they don't have a systemic epo/cera/ hGH testing program. The major teams would shit themselves if it did!

 

Pro athletes do indeed sign up to code. It doesn't mean that they will all follow it. As for the UCI, I agree. And i know how it wasn't just Lance. It most cyclists. Hell even Levi leipheimer was charged. He lives near me. I got a signed poster by him and chatted with him a few weeks ago. As for other sports, like football, I hate football. It's to overrated and stupid. They're will always be a small percent of cheaters in every sport. No matter how much they are tested.

You're really just dodging my bewilderment, WHY are you pissed at USADA? You sound angry that they're doing their job and when you say "Everyone did it back then" it indeed implies you think it was acceptable and for some bizarre reason you think he should, I don't know, be let off the hook for no reason whatsoever?

You're really just dodging my bewilderment, WHY are you pissed at USADA? You sound angry that they're doing their job and when you say "Everyone did it back then" it indeed implies you think it was acceptable and for some bizarre reason you think he should, I don't know, be let off the hook for no reason whatsoever?

 

I would say pissed(even though i posted that) It's just more of "Oh this again" kind of feeling. I'm not angry their doing their job. I just wish we could spend our money on better things. By "Everyone did it back then" implies that everybody did it back then. It means what it means, if that makes sense. I'm not saying it is acceptable. I'm stating that most riders did it back then. For being off the hook, I don't have an opinion for that, but he still did the Tour every year. Even with or without drugs it's very hard to do. You know?

 

We'll continue this debate later okay? I have to go to school. :lol:

I don't see why you'd bother saying "Everybody did it back then", but fine.

 

I think the debates over, really odd way to express that in your initial post.

 

"FREAKING USADA!!!!!111111111111"

If they sign up for the code, which all athletes do through their national associateions - I did to the BCF for 10yrs - then simply you adhere to the rules or pay the price if you dont and get caught.

 

Not all teams did cross the line during that era, and not all riders from USPostal did. It wasn't a level playing field by any stretch of the imagination. After festina98 the french especially came down hard on their teams & riders. For many northern continental european teams as well the stage races were never a priority compared to the 1day classics.

 

I'm amazed USADA have had the balls to do this. The intimidation that they and the prior USFDA investigation received was pretty shocking.

 

Listen to this is you can... pretty eye opening: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ngqxd

So it's official. Stripped of all 7 titles by the governing body. You have to question the UCI's competence once again. They seem ill fit to govern that sport and hardly a day goes by without a cyclist criticising the UCI (take the protests of the UCI not doing anything to improve the female profile of the sport for example). And as for Armstrong? Perhaps he better get apologising. No doubt he'll still be heralded as a "true American hero" and all that propaganda shite he can hide behind in his home country.

 

Oh and The Sunday Times here in the UK can happily pursue that allegation of fraud against Lance Armstrong. In 2004 the newspaper was forced to apologise and pay out to Armstrong after publishing a report accusing Armstrong of doping.

I hope Mr Armstrong is going to pay that money back now

Here's USADA's reasoned decision that led to the UCI's decision.

 

Whether or not one chooses to believe parts, everything or nothing (because it is basically a collection of statements from teammates, staff and friends), it's still an interesting read.

US cyclist Lance Armstrong apologises to Livestrong staff

 

Lance Armstrong has apologised to the staff at his Livestrong Foundation, amid reports that the US cyclist may admit doping in a TV interview.

 

Armstrong made the apology during private conversations in Austin, Texas, a foundation spokeswoman said.

 

His interview with Oprah Winfrey is due to be aired on Thursday.

 

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the sport's governing body last year. He has maintained his innocence.

 

link

Australian library's Lance Armstrong 'fiction' notice revealed as a hoax

 

Sign put up in Sydney library saying disgraced cyclist's books would be moved to fiction section was not officially sanctioned

 

 

 

 

A sign telling users of an Australian library that books written by the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong would be moved to the fiction section has been revealed as a joke.

 

The sign at Sydney's Manly library, a photo of which went viral on the internet, read: "All non-fiction Lance Armstrong Books, including Lance Armstrong - Images of a Champion, The Lance Armstrong Performance Program and Lance Armstrong: World's Greatest Champion, will soon be moved to the fiction section."

 

The note, which was placed in a plastic stand on a bookshelf in the library, sparked heated debate online over whether Armstrong's fight against cancer and motivation of people outweighed his drug cheating in a sport rife with doping.

 

"As a cyclist the guy's work was inspiring, his foundation do amazing work and his story was great … You feel embarrassed for recommending his book to people, you stare at the books on the shelf questioning if the lessons and the inspiration is honest and real," said one commentator. Another declared: "Hell hath no fury like a librarian."

 

But Manly Library said the printed notice was a prank and that an internal review was under way. "Libraries can't arbitrarily reclassify categories of books, because that depends on the ISBN number that is issued by the National Library," a spokesman at Manly council, which runs the library, said.

 

link

From what I've seen in the Oprah interview, he didn't seem very apologetic. His whole attitude, to me, was all like, "I regret nothing." :p