USADA Finds Armstrong’s Doping a Team Effort

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On October 10, 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a report laying out the reasons behind its August decision to ban Lance Armstrong from competitive cycling, as well as strip him of his racing titles (which include seven Tour-de-France victories).  The allegations, which include testimony taken from over a dozen witnesses (including several former teammates), state that Armstrong had both used and trafficked the drugs EPO and testosterone.

At one point, the report accused Armstrong of perpetuating a “doping culture” on his racing team, painting him as a wrongdoer with a “small army of supporters,” enablers who assisted him – and forced his teammates – to use illegal drugs in violation of international doping bans.  It later stated, “[t]he evidence is overwhelming that Lance Armstrong did not just use performance enhancing drugs, he supplied them to his teammates.  It was not enough that his teammates gave maximum effort on the bike, he also required that they adhere to the doping program outlined for them or be replaced.  He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team, he enforced and re-enforced it.”

Armstrong still maintains his innocence despite two failed federal lawsuit attempts to block the USADA from bringing its charges, insisting that the USADA arbitrations were a “kangaroo court” that would never have treated him fairly.  Armstrong’s attorney Tim Herman commented on the report, calling it “a one-sided hatchet job – a taxpayer funded tabloid piece rehashing old, disproved, unreliable allegations based largely on ax-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart heart deals and threat-induced stories.”

USADA Report

11 testified against Lance Armstrong

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