Lance Armstrong won't fight doping charges; loses titles

In summary: People are outraged because they feel like these riders should have been honest about their use of drugs and not try to hide it. There is a sense that these riders took advantage of a loophole in the drug testing system and that the sport is not fair now that they have been caught.
  • #36
Jimmy Snyder said:
I believe she was referring to me. Maybe not, but my wife was when she found out I was using performance enhancing drugs.

But she benifited from that, no? Why would she be upset?
 
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  • #37
Wow, this guy was really not nice.

This was about Lance's sociopathic spectacle.

At one point during the interview, he couldn't recall how many people he'd sued. Really. He not only didn't know the number, he couldn't even be sure when asked about specific individuals that his mighty, powerful legal team relentlessly tried to bury.
It's worth noting that many of the people he's sued through the years in an effort to protect his lies and glory were one-time close friends, roommates, teammates, business partners and associates.

Is there another person in America who has sued so many people he once liked – for telling the truth, mind you – that he can't remember all of them? Anyone?
What you and your bank account and those sleepless nights you can't forget -- he can't remember.

He was, and likely remains, nothing but a machine of personal glorification, no concept of his real place in the world. Now that the truth is out, it's not about the cheating so much as it's about the way he fought dirty to protect the cheating.

"I was a bully," he acknowledged. "In the sense that I tried to control the narrative, and if I didn't like what somebody said, I tried to control that and say that's a lie."
Except he didn't stop at saying "that's a lie." He'd start there, then go on the attack, often trying to ruin his accusers professionally and, perhaps, personally, maybe legally and certainly financially.
So much wrong about this man. I can't post it all, but take a minute to read it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lance-...-image-in-mea-culpa-with-oprah-062222144.html
 
  • #38
It wasn't just that, it was the denials and the lawsuits.
 
  • #40
On one of the Sunday morning news shows, one person made the comment that she was glad that this finally came out so that kids will learn that it doesn't pay to cheat.

Someone else pointed out that the only real lesson here is that you can cheat, bank a hundred million or so, and then just apologize on Oprah.

Publicly humilitated? Lost trophies? Big deal. He's set for life.
 
  • #42
Evo said:
He was a very mean, nasty, vindictive a-hole? Also, read some of the other links about this guy.

See here.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=4231162&postcount=24

Him being mean doesn't really justify the quoted person's question. Doping, in the Tour de France is rampant, so why is Lance Armstrong being targeted so ferociously? He should keep his titles. Stripping him of his titles is nonsense in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_at_the_Tour_de_France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling

This is a sport, not a beauty pageant. I'd be angry if people were being vindictive, accusing me of cheating (even if I were) when most of the people in the sport are also utilizing epo.

Do I believe these people had some "revelation" and wanted to out the cheaters of the sport? I cannot say for sure. However, I can understand Lance's frustration with those truth-tellers. He ultimately had no other choice but to confess in my opinion to stifle the process and have it be a long, on-going issue. Just end it now and by the end of the year people will have forgotten about it.

But to the comment about Lance being a sociopath:

Just because one is telling the truth doesn't mean that person is also a good person. There are many reasons as to why people do things, so saying Lance is being mean to those people really is looking at one side and nothing else. It is favoritism, and I dislike it when people equate "whistle-blowers" as saints that did nothing wrong or were just being good citizens.
 
  • #43
Mentalist said:
Him being mean doesn't really justify the quoted person's question. Doping, in the Tour de France is rampant, so why is Lance Armstrong being targeted so ferociously? He should keep his titles. Stripping him of his titles is nonsense in my opinion.
It's the rules. Break the rules, you lose. "Everyone does it" is no excuse. Anyone that does it loses. That's the rules. To say there should be no punishment because of rampant abuse is idiotic, IMO.
 
  • #44
Mentalist said:
Him being mean doesn't really justify the quoted person's question. Doping, in the Tour de France is rampant, so why is Lance Armstrong being targeted so ferociously? He should keep his titles. Stripping him of his titles is nonsense in my opinion.
Why exactly should he keep those medals? They're awarded to the person who wins the tournament without breaking the rules. He didn't do that so he doesn't deserve them. Similarly the question of doping being rampant doesn't come into it. It can play a part in the debate about drugs in sport and what to do but it's irrelevant to this as no matter how you cut it he broke the rules. If everyone did then none of them deserve it.
Mentalist said:
This is a sport, not a beauty pageant. I'd be angry if people were being vindictive, accusing me of cheating (even if I were) when most of the people in the sport are also utilizing epo.
Being angry at people for revealing your cheating is one thing, persecuting them with every means you have is nothing short of evil. Unless you think it's morally acceptable to detour to devastate people financially and professionally so that they won't reveal that you don't deserve what you have?
Mentalist said:
Just because one is telling the truth doesn't mean that person is also a good person. There are many reasons as to why people do things, so saying Lance is being mean to those people really is looking at one side and nothing else. It is favoritism, and I dislike it when people equate "whistle-blowers" as saints that did nothing wrong or were just being good citizens.
What kind of comment is that? Are you saying that the people who have come forward deserved what they got? Do you think he is at all justified with the level of persecution that has come to light? Calling it "being mean" is disingenuous, being mean would have been to call them names not set out to ruin their career and have them sued.
 
  • #45
On the narrow issue of stripping his titles, if they had a rule in place stating that riders would be stripped of their titles if they doped, then they were right to do it. If no such rule was in place, then they have exceeded their authority. Was there such a rule? If the rule was in place but not invoked until now, or invoked for some, but not for others, that would be a problem. Is that the case?
 
  • #46
Jimmy Snyder said:
On the narrow issue of stripping his titles, if they had a rule in place stating that riders would be stripped of their titles if they doped, then they were right to do it. If no such rule was in place, then they have exceeded their authority. Was there such a rule? If the rule was in place but not invoked until now, or invoked for some, but not for others, that would be a problem. Is that the case?
Arguably this isn't true if you take into consideration that the title is for those who win and by definition in the case that means coming first without cheating. If you didn't win then the title isn't yours. It's akin to giving out a world record to someone who it is later revealed didn't do the feat.
 
  • #47
Jimmy Snyder said:
On the narrow issue of stripping his titles, if they had a rule in place stating that riders would be stripped of their titles if they doped, then they were right to do it. If no such rule was in place, then they have exceeded their authority. Was there such a rule? If the rule was in place but not invoked until now, or invoked for some, but not for others, that would be a problem. Is that the case?
I don't think dishonest people deserve fair treatment. People who are ruining sports with drugs should be thrown out of their profession for life and all their titles/awards should be burned down.
 
  • #48
rootX said:
I don't think dishonest people deserve fair treatment. People who are ruining drugs in sports should be thrown out of their profession for life and all their titles/awards should be burned down.
But do you punish some dishonest people and not other dishonest people.
 
  • #49
Jimmy Snyder said:
But do you punish some dishonest people and not other dishonest people.
It's unfair to punish some and not punish others but I think that's fine. However in the future, I would wish to see all players to be punished as strictly as possible if tested positive for drugs.
 
  • #50
Jimmy Snyder said:
But do you punish some dishonest people and not other dishonest people.
As they are discovered, they should be, which, I believe, is the intent of the commitee in this case. There will be no alternate winners named for the years Armstrong won.

So perhaps it's not surprising that the director of the Tour de France declared that if the International Cycling Union (UCI) decides not to appeal USADA's decision to ban Armstrong for life and strip him of his seven Tour titles, there will be no replacement winner named for years 1999 through 2005.

"It indicates that no one in the races was above suspicion, which highlights the fact that doping was prevalent during the entire period," says Dick Pound, former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ance-armstrong-tour-de-france-doping/1635499/
 
  • #51
This is from Evo's link.
Of the 21 top three finishers in the Tour de France during Lance Armstrong's victory streak, only one has not been tied to doping, according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. His name is Fernando Escartin, who finished third in 1999 -- the first of Armstrong's seven consecutive titles -- and even Escartin is subject to suspicion.
There appears to be a problem with the testing protocol. Is it the case that you can only get caught if someone blabs?
 
  • #52
Jimmy Snyder said:
This is from Evo's link.

There appears to be a problem with the testing protocol. Is it the case that you can only get caught if someone blabs?
Armstrong was caught twice, but used his connections to get out of it. I believe it is in one of the previously posted links.
 
  • #53
Jimmy Snyder said:
On the narrow issue of stripping his titles, if they had a rule in place stating that riders would be stripped of their titles if they doped, then they were right to do it. If no such rule was in place, then they have exceeded their authority. Was there such a rule? If the rule was in place but not invoked until now, or invoked for some, but not for others, that would be a problem. Is that the case?
Don't know about what is spelled out in the rules, but Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador have also been stripped of TDF titles. It's not just Armstrong.
Jimmy Snyder said:
But do you punish some dishonest people and not other dishonest people.
Yes, in fact we do. We only punish the ones for which the evidence is solid enough, and/or we have the resources to pursue.

Not having a 100% effective system is no excuse for letting off the people who are caught.
 
  • #54
Redbelly98 said:
Don't know about what is spelled out in the rules, but Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador have also been stripped of TDF titles. It's not just Armstrong.
Given that their titles were stripped, I can't see how mentalist can justify his position that Armstrong should not be punished in the same way.
 
  • #55
  • #56
Jimmy Snyder said:
Given that their titles were stripped, I can't see how mentalist can justify his position that Armstrong should not be punished in the same way.
Bingo, he can't.
 
  • #57
Evo said:
It's the rules. Break the rules, you lose. "Everyone does it" is no excuse. Anyone that does it loses. That's the rules. To say there should be no punishment because of rampant abuse is idiotic, IMO.

I am not saying there shouldn't be any punishment, I am saying that he should not have his medals stripped away from him given his testimony of the performance enhancement culture and other cyclists admitting that, "you'd be quite stupid to not use performance enhancing drugs."

The context matters most to me as this isn't a black and white issue. Taking away medals won't detour cyclists from using the drugs.

@Jimmy: I am not trying to show what Lance did was right or good, but rather, reasonable given the circumstances. It is true that if the UCI wants to take away the medals, they have the right, but I believe they are going about it the wrong way.

Punishments such as taking away the prize money, fines, and lawsuits would be much better while still acknowledging that he and other cyclists won a fair race.

Arguably this isn't true if you take into consideration that the title is for those who win and by definition in the case that means coming first without cheating.

Cheating is defined as having an unfair advantage. However, given the testimony of other cyclists, that isn't the case for the Tour de France.

What kind of comment is that? Are you saying that the people who have come forward deserved what they got? Do you think he is at all justified with the level of persecution that has come to light? Calling it "being mean" is disingenuous, being mean would have been to call them names not set out to ruin their career and have them sued.

I am saying we shouldn't look at them as the good guys in this rather we should scrutinize their reasoning. What prompted them to out Lance? The reason I am saying this is because people are demonizing Lance and heralding the people he lashed out towards as victims. We should look at both sides rather than choosing a side.

Being angry at people for revealing your cheating is one thing, persecuting them with every means you have is nothing short of evil. Unless you think it's morally acceptable to detour to devastate people financially and professionally so that they won't reveal that you don't deserve what you have?

The use of the word evil as a character description is too much here. We all have our own ways of dealing with, what seems to me, to be a targeted attack or betrayal. Lance dealt with it in anger, yes, and he did in my opinion go a bit overboard but saying he is evil is too much. We shouldn't be quick to judge how he personally dealt with the situation as he was, in my opinion, afraid of what would happen so, like any person afraid, they resort to what seems rational, "fight."

I heard people saying that because he wasn't fighting his medals being taken away (before admitting) he was guilty. So, was Lance at the time right to pursue those saying "slanderous" remarks? Probably so. But to me, it seemed to shed more light than cover up the situation.
 
  • #58
If it is the case that the drugs are dangerous, then by taking them, you are forcing others to either take them as well, or stay out of the competition.
 
  • #59
Jimmy Snyder said:
If it is the case that the drugs are dangerous, then by taking them, you are forcing others to either take them as well, or stay out of the competition.

What if they aren't dangerous? What if the only reason for banning them is because of the way the public perceives a sport that relies on drugs?

I think the latter is the real reason for banning drugs and that that's a legitimate reason. There's a danger that sponsors not only will pay less, but will decide they don't want to be associated with cycling, period.

In other words, the attitude of pro cycling (or at least the UCI) is that getting caught and bringing the image of the sport into disrepute is the crime; not necessarily taking the drugs. (And taking down the sport's greatest hero is, perhaps, the greatest crime a cyclist could commit, given the lack of enthusiasm the UCI had for following up on the possibility of Armstrong doping.)

If they are dangerous, it doesn't have an obvious effect on their lifespans: Increased average longevity among the "Tour de France" cyclists. Obviously, lifespan isn't the only measure of health and there could be non-life threatening side effects that seriously reduce the quality of life, if not the duration. Plus, one has no way of knowing if drugs really do shorten lifespan, but that effect is outweighed by the better fitness, health, and nutrition of professional cyclists. The danger of drugs would be hard to measure unless the dangers were truly extreme.
 
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  • #60
Jimmy Snyder said:
If it is the case that the drugs are dangerous, then by taking them, you are forcing others to either take them as well, or stay out of the competition.
Did you mean "If it is the case that the drugs improve your performance, then by taking them, you are forcing others to either take them as well, or stay out of the competition."? Because being dangerous doesn't make sense in your statement.
 
  • #61
Oops. I meant to say that by forcing others to dope or go home you are inducing them into a dangerous situation.

I don't know the nature of the drugs that enhance bicycling ability. Are they dangerous?
 
  • #62
Jimmy Snyder said:
Oops. I meant to say that by forcing others to dope or go home you are inducing them into a dangerous situation.

I don't know the nature of the drugs that enhance bicycling ability. Are they dangerous?
It's possible that some deaths have occurred due to doping, perhaps because it is uncontrolled/unregulated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling#1982

When a 31 or 22 year old athlete dies from a heart attack, something is wrong. It can happen if an athlete has a heart or health problem to begin with. Use of artificial hormones can cause problems with one's endocrine system, or heart attack or stroke.
 
  • #63
What are the dangers of training in elite sports? In order to compete, athletes must go through rigorous training that does have harmful impacts on the competitor. Not only that we see the dangers of playing football, one of which is decreased longevity. I have yet to see a credible study regarding the dangers of performance enhancing drugs. That is the dangers with the use of the latter outweighing the non-use. There is even performance enhancing drugs used in science by scientists:

http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20080409/poll-scientists-use-brain-boosting-drugs

Banning these drugs or penalizing others for their use is, to me, backwards. No-one has an unfair advantage if everyone is utilizing the drug. They all are just about "equal" (not in the strictest of sense as naturally, some are better than others which means even if they all took drugs, it would be the same footing).

There are talks about testing students for drugs because there seems to be higher usage of adderall among students. But, in regards to the link above, if one wins a nobel prize because s/he confessed to taking performance enhancing drugs, are we going to take that nobel prize away?
 
  • #64
Mentalist said:
There are talks about testing students for drugs because there seems to be higher usage of adderall among students. If one wins a nobel prize because s/he confessed to taking performance enhancing drugs, are we going to take that nobel prize away?
That isn't a fair comparison. The Nobel prize is awarded for significant contribution to a field, sports awards are given for winning the competition within the confines of the rules and the rules state no doping.

IMO the debate surrounding doping in sports and whether it should be allowed is irrelevant to whether or not someone deserves an award when they do not might the criteria for it.
 
  • #65
Mentalist said:
What are the dangers of training in elite sports? In order to compete, athletes must go through rigorous training that does have harmful impacts on the competitor. Not only that we see the dangers of playing football, one of which is decreased longevity. I have yet to see a credible study regarding the dangers of performance enhancing drugs. That is the dangers with the use of the latter outweighing the non-use.


There is even performance enhancing drugs used in science by scientists:

http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20080409/poll-scientists-use-brain-boosting-drugs

Banning these drugs or penalizing others for their use is, to me, backwards. No-one has an unfair advantage if everyone is utilizing the drug. They all are just about "equal" (not in the strictest of sense as naturally, some are better than others which means even if they all took drugs, it would be the same footing).

There are talks about testing students for drugs because there seems to be higher usage of adderall among students. But, in regards to the link above, if one wins a nobel prize because s/he confessed to taking performance enhancing drugs, are we going to take that nobel prize away?
Do you make all of these posts just to troll? You seriously see nothing wrong with people cheating, breaking rules, doping for an advanatge, because you believe that everyone should do it, etc... We wish to raise the level of critical thinking thinking on this forum, not bring it down.

So, let's stick with the facts about armstrong and cease going off topic or speculating.
 
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  • #66
Lance broke the rules. However, what credible reason aside from rule breaking is there to take away his medals if he was performing on the same level (but to a higher degree) with other competitors? I'd like a better reason rather than, "its the rules," as even though a rule is in place, that does not mean it is a reasonable rule when concerning the context of the situation.

@Evo: I stated above that it isn't cheating if the playing field is leveled. Who is cheating against whom if everyone is utilizing similar drugs in cycling? Cheating is having an unfair advantage. There was no cheating within what has been stated among many cyclists, even those whistle-blowing. The consistent statements made among many is that, "there is a wide use of performance enhancing drugs and it would be stupid not to take them." Again make your case about where cheating occurred.
 
  • #67
Mentalist said:
Lance broke the rules. However, what credible reason aside from rule breaking is there to take away his medals if he was performing on the same level (but to a higher degree) with other competitors? I'd like a better reason rather than, "its the rules," as even though a rule is in place, that does not mean it is a reasonable rule when concerning the context of the situation.
I don't understand why you don't accept the point that medals are awarded for winning within the rules therefore if it's found out that you broke the rules your medals should be removed.

If the rules are proposed to be unreasonable then there should be a debate on that but it doesn't change that at the time the rules were broken.
 
  • #68
Mentalist said:
I stated above that it isn't cheating if the playing field is leveled.
This is ridiculous. Show me the rules where it says as long as everyone breaks the rules, it's OK. The onus is on you to back up your claims.
 
  • #69
Mentalist said:
Lance broke the rules. However, what credible reason aside from rule breaking is there to take away his medals if he was performing on the same level (but to a higher degree) with other competitors? I'd like a better reason rather than, "its the rules," as even though a rule is in place, that does not mean it is a reasonable rule when concerning the context of the situation.

@Evo: I stated above that it isn't cheating if the playing field is leveled. Who is cheating against whom if everyone is utilizing similar drugs in cycling? Cheating is having an unfair advantage. There was no cheating within what has been stated among many cyclists, even those whistle-blowing. The consistent statements made among many is that, "there is a wide use of performance enhancing drugs and it would be stupid not to take them." Again make your case about where cheating occurred.
Your logic is flawed here.

The problem is, Lance was leading the charge - since he had the most money to afford the doping - thus the only people (by your logic, Mentalist) that shouldn't have lost their medals
were all those that lost to him.

He wasn't levelling the field - he was making it uneven and others were catching up.

Armstrong is a fraud, a sociopath, and a narcissist. Also the entire pelaton is STILL doing transfusions as we speak - it will never stop either.
 
  • #70
In regards to Mentalist's position, it is possible that no one who doesn't cheat can ever win.
 

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