Armstrong said he was leaving to spend time with his family — he has five children — and that his age was catching up to him. At the 2010 Tour, he was nearly twice as old as some of his top adversaries.
Armstrong announced before that he was retiring, in 2005, the year he won his unprecedented seventh consecutive Tour. Long before that, though, he had transcended the sport by coming back to win at its highest level after surviving testicular cancer.
His previous break from cycling lasted just over three years. He returned in 2009 to try to win the Tour again, but finished third to his Astana teammate, Alberto Contador of Spain.
New Doping Charges
Throughout his career, Armstrong has been dogged by accusations of doping. In June 2012, he faced new doping charges that could lead to his being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, according to a letter from the United States Anti-Doping Agency that was sent to Armstrong and several of his former cycling colleagues.
The letter, which was sent June 12 and signed by the antidoping agency’s testing results manager, informed Armstrong that the agency had initiated a formal doping procedure against him. The inquiry meant that Armstrong would be ineligible to compete in triathlons, a sport that had been his recent focus.
Armstrong, 40, was scheduled to compete in a full-length triathlon in France in June, and had hoped to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in fall 2012. But triathlon rules bar from competition any athlete who is being formally investigated for doping.
The letter describes some of the evidence against Armstrong. The allegations start with doping rules he allegedly violated during his stints with the United States Postal Service cycling team, the Discovery Channel team, the Astana team and the RadioShack team. The time frame begins in 1996 and stretches through 2010, the final year Armstrong rode in the Tour.
“The witnesses to the conduct described in this letter include more than 10 cyclists as well as cycling team employees,” the letter said.
Armstrong is accused of using the blood booster E.P.O., blood transfusions, testosterone, human growth hormone, corticosteroids, and saline and plasma infusions to boost his performance or mask his use of banned substances.
Previous Investigation
In 2010, Armstrong became the focus of a federal criminal investigation that was later dropped.
The investigation began in May 2010, when Floyd Landis accused top American cyclists on the United States Postal Service team, including Armstrong, of using performance-enhancing drugs and methods. Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone.
Federal prosecutors intensified their criminal investigation of Armstrong after questioning many of his former associates, including cyclists who had reportedly supported and detailed claims that Armstrong and his former Postal Service team participated in systematic doping. The inquiry attempted to prove that Armstrong and his associates committed fraud against the government, among other crimes.
In May 2011, the American cyclist Tyler Hamilton said in a report on the “CBS Evening News” that he had seen Armstrong inject himself with the banned performance-enhancing drug EPO to win those Tours.
In February 2012, Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Armstrong and his teammates, ending the nearly two-year effort. No reason was given for the decision.
Armstrong has steadfastly denied he doped during his unparalleled career, but the possibility of criminal charges has threatened to stain his legacy as the world’s greatest cyclist and could cast a shadow over his cancer charity work.
The Accusations
Armstrong tried to distance himself from the federal criminal investigation by saying that he was just a rider for the team and had no knowledge of what went on within its management. He has said that he would deny any involvement in doping “as long as I live.”
Jeff Novitzky, a Food and Drug Administration agent who led the investigation in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative steroids case, was in charge of the cycling case and was trying to determine if Armstrong, his teammates, the owners or managers of his former team conspired to defraud their sponsors by doping to improve their performance and win more money and prizes. Authorities wanted to know if money from the Postal Service, an independent agency of the United States government, was used to finance doping.
Armstrong, who has had to explain several curious tests, has denied all charges of cheating. He tested positive for a banned substance once, for cortisone at the 1999 Tour, but produced a doctor’s note saying the drug was medically necessary for saddle sores. He received no punishment and went on to win his first Tour.
The Cancer Survivor
Having survived testicular cancer that metastasized to his lungs and his brain, Armstrong has become a powerful symbol of the possibilities of life after the disease. He has also become a world-class philanthropist, his Livestrong foundation doling out millions on behalf of cancer patients.
But now that he is charged yet again with doping, those in the interdependent circles of his world are concerned that the inquiry will tarnish or erode all he has built.
Few would dispute that Mr. Armstrong is a splendid athlete, gifted and dedicated, or that he is a magnificent publicist for his cause. Since 2004, when Livestrong and its corporate partner Nike gave the world the yellow bracelet to signify that the wearer had been touched by cancer, more than 70 million have been distributed.
But his competitive side is also compelling. A power-wielding, polarizing figure in cycling, Mr. Armstrong has a reputation for being a brutal competitor and an aggressive self-promoter.
With 2.6 million followers on Twitter, Mr. Armstrong cultivates his fame, sharing personal activity reports, occasional shout-outs to cancer patients and promos for Livestrong.
As chairman of Livestrong, he may no longer be involved in its day-to-day operation, but the organization relies on him not just as a spokesman, but also for relationship building and policy guidance. Mr. Armstrong also served two three-year terms on the President’s Cancer Panel, which is charged with assessing the National Cancer Program.
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