Is Armstrong plotting to take down the USADA?
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This July 7, 2005 file photo shows Lance Armstrong of the US during the sixth stage of the 92nd Tour de France cycling race between Troyes and Nancy. AFP PHOTO / Files / JOEL SAGET
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I can’t help but think that Lance Armstrong’s decision to give up the fight is all part of his master plan to take down the United Staes Anti Doping Agency (USADA).
You can call it a conspiracy theory, but when I see a man who has battled his way through cancer and continued fighting to be the best in his sport without ever giving up… I have a hard time believing that he’s chosen to end the battle this time.
Love him or hate him, Lance Armstrong is a true fighter. Along with that, he’s incredibly smart. Whether it was the head games he played with his competitors during the Tour de France or the genius of what he has done through Livestrong, there’s no denying that this mate knows what he’s doing. So with all of this in mind, I can’t help but think that he’s up to something.
This investigation by the USADA has become much more of a personal attack against Armstrong that it is a policing of doping charges. Somewhere along the way, the cockiness of Lance Armstrong rubbed someone the wrong way in that organization and they have had a vendetta against him ever since. But I think Lance is equally motivated to get back at them as well. This is where the conspiracy comes in.
We’ve all seen the massive number of headlines out there based on this statement:
The U.S. Anti Doping Agency has banned Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and has stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles for doping.”
But what isn’t getting as much publicity is the fact that the USADA can recommend this to happen, but does not have the authority to let it be so. Armstrong said it himself in the statement he gave to ESPN.com, ”USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles”.
Although I feel there is ulterior motives to Lance Armstrong no longer challenging the USADA’s charges, I’m not exactly sure how he’s going to take them down. But I’ll bet his team of lawyers and advisors know exactly how he can do it.
The explosion that rocked the cycling world yesterday is not the end of the story, and I feel that Lance plans on writing the last chapter himself.
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August 25th 2012 @ 3:27am
Stevie Dexter said | August 25th 2012 @ 3:27am | Report comment
There is not a lot we disagree on Darryl… but the guy has played his final hand and came up wanting. He has always known that his loyal followers will be loyal to the end, regardless of what anyone else says so he may as well have just carried on carrying on. Has his image/memory/achievements been damaged to any greater degree in the eyes of the disbelievers with this final hurrah – probably not. And will his supporters think any less of him for continuing his fight until he was so exhausted that he had to throw in the towel or acknowledge any of the 2nd placers as actual winners – No.
Very little has changed over the last 2 years (other than the ‘revelations’ of some US professionals earlier this year) and I believe any further pain or suffering that Mr Armstrong has suffered due to the continuing situation is down to him prolonging what even he knew was almost inevitable.
It will be a sad blot on the sport, but not the first and I’m sure not the last.
August 25th 2012 @ 4:07am
Darryl Kotyk said | August 25th 2012 @ 4:07am | Report comment
Hi Stevie. Yeah, I’m not going to argue strongly on this one but I do feel there is more behind what just happened yesterday. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
August 25th 2012 @ 3:32am
Blake said | August 25th 2012 @ 3:32am | Report comment
The USADA do have the power to strip the titles under the WADA code. It can be appealed though by the ASO I beileve.
August 25th 2012 @ 4:09am
Darryl Kotyk said | August 25th 2012 @ 4:09am | Report comment
Hi Blake. I don’t know the exact authorities of what the USADA can and cannot do. I am just basing this post off what was published online.
August 25th 2012 @ 3:39am
Joe said | August 25th 2012 @ 3:39am | Report comment
Spot on Darryl. USADA overplayed their hand and now Lance can approach the courts to set aside the ruling. He never wanted to participate in the arbitration and wanted to fight them in court.
August 25th 2012 @ 4:08am
Darryl Kotyk said | August 25th 2012 @ 4:08am | Report comment
Thanks Joe. Yeah, I’m sure there is a legal chessgame strategy in there somewhere but we’ll have to see where it goes from here.
August 25th 2012 @ 4:48am
sittingbison said | August 25th 2012 @ 4:48am | Report comment
Sorry, that’s complete and utter rubbish.
USADA has full authority to both initiate proceedings, sanction him and strip him of titles. Any suggestion to the contrary is complete PR bull, which you have both fallen for. Do some real research before staring drivel.
The funny thing is Lances own manager helped draft the USADA guidelines.
August 25th 2012 @ 5:39am
Darryl Kotyk said | August 25th 2012 @ 5:39am | Report comment
Issues like this are sure to create a standoff between people on both sides. I don’t know the inside story so I’m providing my opinion but also open to other comments and opinion as well. Thanks for your input on this one.
August 25th 2012 @ 12:19pm
sittingbison said | August 25th 2012 @ 12:19pm | Report comment
Darryl,
Thanks for writing the article. It creates thought and discussion. The problem is encouraging fanboys or even Lance PR interns to come to the roar and hijack cycling threads. The only way to prevent this is debunk at every opportunity.
The answer to your question is very simple. Read the letter from Lances paid liar Herman to USADA attorney Bill Block. It clearly and unambiguously shows what hand Lance is playing.
The Lance public letter, and “withdrawal” is complete PR bull and subterfuge. He knew full well that not choosing arbitration leads to automatic guilt of all instances in the charge letter.
Given his own submission to the Federal Court was just unceremoniously fling out, with Judge Sparks clearly demonstrating USADA has full authority to proceed, Lance has no further room to manouvre.
It is even unlikely he can now go to CAS as he chose to not arbitrate, and there are no procedural grounds.
He cannot go for defamation, as the evidence will come to light and he will face perjury charges.
There is no gambit, he will do absolutely nothing and hope to maintain his support.
August 25th 2012 @ 2:19pm
nick said | August 25th 2012 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
Only UCI can strip him of titles. USADA recommends but only UCI can actually act. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/24/lance-armstrong-uci
August 26th 2012 @ 12:05pm
sittingbison said | August 26th 2012 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
Wrong. USADA strips him of results, and bans him. They REPORT their rests to WADA and UCI who can appeal to CAS. They won’t .
August 25th 2012 @ 7:58am
rcr said | August 25th 2012 @ 7:58am | Report comment
Where does the UCI fit in then?
August 25th 2012 @ 5:18pm
William Goat said | August 25th 2012 @ 5:18pm | Report comment
The USADA certainly does have the ability & right to initiate proceedings, sanction & take punitive action. Arbitration is the crucial word here though, which requires that both or all parties must agree to abide by/accept the award/decision of the independent third party. This is why the USADA has had to invite Armstrong to arbitration rather than simply prosecute him or hand down a verdict.
Armstrong has the right to reject the offer ( despite what may be considered a tacit agreement to abide by it’s decision by being a registered competitor in a competition admiinistered by an organisation which is a funding member of the USADA such as the ASO, organiser of the TDF for example or the Olympics as a member of the US Olympic Team via US Olympic Committee when he competed in the Olympics) & yet his rejection has been taken by the USADA to be an admission of guilt by absence. He refuses to take part & thus is guilty as charged.
If there was a tacit agreement to abide by it’s ruling established by his participation in said events then the USADA would have been under no obligation to even offer arbitration. The fact that it did suggests that tacit agreement is not sufficient to establish its’ jurisdiction without Armstrongs’ agreement.
This lack of agreement is not a barrier to the right of the USADA to adjudicate on the matter given it actually has evidence that holds up to proper scrutiny etc.
What is a barrier to it’s right is the fact that despite being a “non-profit, non- governmental agency” it actually receives funding from both government agencies such as the US Olympic Committee & the Office of National Drug Control & Federal grants which, aligned with it’s endorsement/mandate from US Congressmakes it a very government dependant ‘non-governmental’ agency.
This alone wouldn’t be such a problem, but the fact that the USADA prosecution of Armstrong involves a the potential mis-use of Federal monies & or commission of fraud against the US Government is where it gets murky.
If Armstrong ( & others, including his team management& administrators) are guilty of doping, then as part of the US Postal Service sponsored team there is the chance that they are also involved in the aforementioned crimes.
Essentially, if the USADA can prove the doping allegations & take punitive action against Armstrong et al, then by rights the US Attorneys Office will be able to use that to prove the commission of fraud & mis-use of Federal monies, which is a much more serious crime than doping.
The US Attorney has already dropped its’ investigation into the alleged crimes, because their case mainly rested on being able to prove the doping first. This doesn’t mean the USADA has no case, it may well do, but what it does mean is that either the US Attorney has already reviewed the evidence & found no way to use it successfully or it is new evidence & thus should be forwarded to them by the USADA for use in their own prosecution.
Catch-22, the USADA can prove doping & thus the case goes way over their mandate to a Federal case, or they can’t & the matter ends. As I put forward in my other posts here, the matter either goes back to a Federal prosecution or it ends in exoneration. The USADA cannot have it both ways.
September 1st 2012 @ 11:23pm
DerailleurED said | September 1st 2012 @ 11:23pm | Report comment
It’s a pity there are so few articles centered around facts like this, it really does need to see more light
August 25th 2012 @ 4:54am
Ross said | August 25th 2012 @ 4:54am | Report comment
Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one. Maybe he just doesn’t want the evidence to be on display at a hearing. It’s a lot easier to continue to claim a vendetta than for the public to hear his teammates admit they doped and watched Lance do it too. Then where does he go?
August 25th 2012 @ 10:05am
Darryl Kotyk said | August 25th 2012 @ 10:05am | Report comment
That could be it as well. Right now Lance and his past teams are about the only ones who knows the real truth.
August 25th 2012 @ 7:16am
Rabbitz said | August 25th 2012 @ 7:16am | Report comment
Really?
All part of a grand master plan?
I hope you lot have a plentiful supply of tin foil, for hat making.
August 25th 2012 @ 7:43am
Darryl Kotyk said | August 25th 2012 @ 7:43am | Report comment
Hahaha, nice one. Yeah, it might be out there but just in case it really happens at least I have proof that I thought about it prior to the fact.
August 28th 2012 @ 7:09pm
sittingbison said | August 28th 2012 @ 7:09pm | Report comment
In all honesty Darryl, I and I am sure many other people have a fear in the back of their minds that Lance will wriggle out as he has so often done in the past.
If he does I will be the first to congratulate you lol
August 25th 2012 @ 7:40am
nickoldschool said | August 25th 2012 @ 7:40am | Report comment
Kudos to USADA who had the balls and courage to bring down an American icon.
Regarding the article itself, I initially thought it was a wind up but apparently not: some still believe its part of a ‘master plan’ to bring USADA down and prove LA was clean from 1996 to 2005, that dozen of ppl lied to incriminate him,that he never took EPO, testosterone, HGH etc, that he never had blood transfusion etc.
USADA said they have samples from 2009 and 2010 showing blood manipulation. game over.
August 25th 2012 @ 8:00am
rcr said | August 25th 2012 @ 8:00am | Report comment
Game over? I once said I had magical powers. That doesn’t mean that I did. Where’s the proof?
August 28th 2012 @ 7:12pm
sittingbison said | August 28th 2012 @ 7:12pm | Report comment
WADA code specifically introduced the concept of “non-analytical” rule violations, meaning that a sanction can be applied in cases where there is evidence that an anti-doping rule violation occurred but where there is no positive doping control test. Seeing as there are more than 10 team mates and several others involved who are testifying…
August 25th 2012 @ 8:18am
nickoldschool said | August 25th 2012 @ 8:18am | Report comment
LA had the opportunity ‘to contest the evidence against him in a full evidentiary hearing with neutral arbitrators as provided by U.S. law”. He chose not to. What else do you want? They had tests, testimonies, team doctors admitting of an institutionalised doping within the team etc.
rcr, like many others, you have been ‘armstronged’. Try to use your ‘magical powers’ to get him out of this, i think he needs them.
August 25th 2012 @ 9:14am
Neil said | August 25th 2012 @ 9:14am | Report comment
The onus is now on USADA to be transparent and release all this so called evidence. They just can’t pack up and move on to the next case and feel that they have been completely vindicated. They say they have the evidence, we the people want to hear it so let’s have it.
August 25th 2012 @ 2:20pm
Rabbitz said | August 25th 2012 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
No, the onus is not on USADA at all. It is incumbent on them to process the Armstrong case as per their documented processes, then to move onto bringing down the next cheat.
August 25th 2012 @ 3:53pm
Neil said | August 25th 2012 @ 3:53pm | Report comment
It most certainly is my friend. We had this type of justice back in the Middle Ages. It was called the Spanish Inquistion.
August 25th 2012 @ 6:36pm
Rabbitz said | August 25th 2012 @ 6:36pm | Report comment
No, they must follow their procedures and execute the case as required.
Armstrong has had his day in court and lost.
Now that he has decided not to arbitrate, which in this case is the same as an admission then the procedure is for him to be stripped of his titles and be banned.
This is not like the Spanish Inquisition, I suggest you take a moment to learn a little about the religious persecution of the inquisition before spouting such garbage.
He rolled the dice, he got caught. Boo Hoo. Time to move on and consign him and his legacy to being a footnote in the record books.
September 1st 2012 @ 11:52pm
DerailleurED said | September 1st 2012 @ 11:52pm | Report comment
Really? The Spanish Inquisition had independent arbitration hearings? They had US District Court Judges declare that everything is fair and legal?
It’s amusing, USADA are going through all the proper due processes to this, going through the proper channels, WADA, the Justic System etc.
Armstrong goes to the media.
Who is seen more positively by the public?
August 26th 2012 @ 12:28pm
sittingbison said | August 26th 2012 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Complete rubbish, there is no onus. In fact Lances paid liar Herman sent a letter to USADA attorney Boxk threatening legal action if they either sanctioned him or released evidence. So much for who is with holding lol.
The last thing Lance wants is be confronted in court, where the evidence comes out and he is open to perjury. Hahaha Marion Jones lol.
Anyway, Tygart has said the evidence will be released at appropriate time. Don’t forget it’s not a witch hunt, as five others are charged, plus the more than ten team mates will be sanctioned if admitting to doping.
August 26th 2012 @ 12:10am
William Goat said | August 26th 2012 @ 12:10am | Report comment
Armstrong also has the right to reject the arbitration process as it stands because he feels he cannot agree to be bound by the ‘award’ or determination of the neutral arbitors as is his legal right.
That in itself is not & has never been taken as an admission of guilt in any circumstance. It simply means that the party which does not agree wishes to take the matter to a proper court hearing, the other party must then by seek prosecution via correct legal means or restrict itself to punitive action within it’s own realm.
The whole aim of arbitration is to avoid court & hopefully come to an agreement rather than a judicial decision. The reason the parties have to agree before an arbitration is so they are bound to the decision as they would be if they had faced a court hearing, jurist or bench.
In fact you may find that the magical powers are being used more solely by the USADA at this point as they are seeking to sanction a person who has clearly rejected their jurisprudence over him & given that they are obligated to ‘invite’ him to participate, it is a clear signal that unless he does so any punitive action is taken without his consent. For example, the USADA could, by way of signatory agreement, force the ASO ( organisers of the TDF) or the UCI ( also funding members of the USADA) to strip Armstrong of titles, but they cannot force him to pay any financial penalties nor serve any gaol time. They cannot in effect ban him from any competition outside of forcing a funding member organisation to stop him from competing. Just as an example, if the ASO withdraws its’ funding & agreement with the USADA, it is under no obligation whatsoever to strip any titles or ban any competitor by direction of the USADA.
The USADA essentially has two options, Armstrong has rejected the offer of arbitration so they can either impose sanction as is their right or seek escalation to a higher authority to prosecute the allegations through normal court proceedings. Remember, arbitration is designed to avoid court proceedings by prior agreement by all parties concerned via their acceptance of the decision of the neutral third party. No-one is bound to go to arbitration & unless the ‘prosecuting party’ escalates the matter that is the end of it. Armstrong is not guilty simply because he rejects the USADA offer of arbitration.
If the USADA imposes sanctions without further prosecution, those sanctions are only valid as far as any organisation recognises them. They are not a legal judgement handed down by a court. They are more akin to your parents grounding you, because they said so without you getting a say, to put it simply.
The grey area in the whole issue is that Armstrong was in essence, a Federal employee during his time as a team member of the US Postal Service sponsored team, as were all associated. This was the crux of the investigation by the US Attorney office, which sought to indict on the grounds that Federal funds were mis-used & fraud was committed because US gov’t money was used to purchase drugs & equipment to use for doping carried out by the team. They dropped their investigation when they found that they couldn’t prove beyond reasonable doubt, in the best interests of the public, that this was the case. That they failed to issue a statement or any sort of clarification only adds to the confusion.
What it boils down to is this- the USADA proves the doping took place, they are obligated to hand over their findings prior to any prosecution or punitive action to the US Attorneys office in order to avoid prejudicing any action they may take as fraud etc is a more serious criminal offence than doping so that agency may pursue the matter. Once the US Attorney has finished the USADA can step in & put in place their own measures. The trick is, as stated, that the US Attorney needs to be able to prove the link between funding & criminal activity, which it has previously said it cannot ( without clarifying why) which leaves the USADA in the unenviable position of either letting it go or actually proving it but having to hand over their work to someone else to pursue, before they publicly show their proof.
This is why I believe that it is Armstrong who has the USADA by the short & curlies, not the other way around. I make no claim to his innocence or guilt, but there is certainly a legal process to follow & at this point it appears that it is the USADA is the party which wishes to circumvent it & achieve a premature outcome rather than Armstrong relying on the goodwill of any true believers.
There are no magical powers, but this applies to both sides of the argument. The USADA can impose sanctions which in effect will only be recognised by their funding members, which are numerous & widespread, but they will never be a proven fact in any forum which regards juris prudence as an integral part of its raison de etre.
It reduces the USADA to a very powerfu but yet still shallow kangaroo court. If they truly sought justice, for all the reasons listed on their website for example, then the press releases you would be reading from them would be about them handing their evidence to the US Attorney Generals Office for further consideration, rather than any talk of bans or stripping of titles.
August 25th 2012 @ 8:37am
SE Informer said | August 25th 2012 @ 8:37am | Report comment
The article is a stretch to say the least. The UCI is now faced with a dilemma. They either accept USADA’s sanctions and strip Lance of all titles and prizes or refuse to do so. If they refuse UCI would have to distance themselves from the World Anti-Doping Agency. By law UCI are madated to accept WADA’s code. Given that WADA backs USADA’s sanctions of Lance, the UCI would then be kicked out of Olympic sports….cycling would be gone. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The UCI would be holding their collective breaths at the moment…not wanting to discredit themselves as a corrupt governing body who have allegedly covered up Lance’s postive for epo at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland.
August 25th 2012 @ 9:26am
William Goat said | August 25th 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
As an innocent by-stander I would certainly like the USADA to present their evidence in a more public way than it has been so far. I realise that may not be able to happen unless Armstrong enters the arbitration so they have an obligation to protect his privacy if he doesn’t. This is where it gets messy for me & why I would still like to see the cards the USADA are holding.
From all accounts, the arbitration is not a criminal proceeding & the manner of establishing ‘proof’ is not the same standard which occurs in a normal trial. If it were then the USADA would have to actually charge Armstrong & show reasonable grounds for both the charges ( backed by evidence) & reasonable grounds that the prosecution would be successful to actually even be able to indict him to face trial.
This means the USADA would have to show a judge that they hold a winning hand ( sorry for the poker analogies, it just seems to fit) but not yet show the public & give Armstrong a look too so that he may adequately prepare his defence.
To me, it looks like the USADA are saying the have all the evidence they need but don’t actually have to show any proof thus far that they do have a reasonable basis for trial. I know there have been some legal arguments made & decisions handed down but my understanding is that they were more concerned about the validity of the USADA actions, than any evidence they may or may not have.
Arbitration itself seeks to avoid the court process & needs all parties to agree to be bound by the decision of the third party. Armstrong does not agree & it is his legal right to do so. The process from here should be that the USADA then commences legal proceedings to puruse the matter. From what I read the alleged actions in the use of EPO etc are actually illegal so they should have a good case, not to mention the aspects of fraud ( US Postal being a team sponsored using gov’t funds etc) so one would think there would be reasonable grounds for prosecution & a reasonable chance of success & the whole matter is in the interests of the public.
To my mind, at this point the USADA should not be talking of any finallity of decision & the stripping of titles etc. This indicates that to them the game is over & they have won. Armstrong is allowed to disagree with the arbitration process surely ? And in doing so should either expect that his accusers will either bring the matter to court or seek to resolve the problems with the arbitration so that it may proceed.
It seems that there is a lot of bluffing going on, a lot of smoke & mirrors with both sides seeking to portray the other in a bad light. However, it is the USADA which is the aggressor, they are pursuing justice & if their accusations are true then one would think they would stand up in any forum. If the arbitration has failed then take it to the next level, go to court, formally charge the man & prove beyond reasonable doubt the case brought before the court. Armstrong has the right to defend himself, which includes rejection of the arbitration process. This in itself is not & has never been an admission of guilt, nor should it be considered so. If it was the winner of any argument would be the side which could make the most unreasonable demands of their accused & then claim victory because the accused refused to acede to the unreasonable demands.
Everyone wants to know the truth, so at least let the process be one that allows that to happen, not a kangaroo court or trial by media.
September 2nd 2012 @ 12:02am
DerailleurED said | September 2nd 2012 @ 12:02am | Report comment
Most of the evidence is wrapped up in Witness testimony.
Given Lance’s mafia-rsque history of intimadation and villification of all who oppose him, I think USADA are more than valid in their grounds of withholding information for the moment to protect those who are witnesses (whom we do not know are, despite the supposed leaked names that were given to the media). There’s also 2 cases in the US Postal Conspiracy still to go to arbitration, Johan Bruyneel and Pedro Celaya. Evidence coming out before those cases are dealt with would no be fair to the defendants or the plantiff in those cases.
Don’t understand how a rejection to a fair trial is not an admission of guilt. It’s effectively saying lay whatever charges you want on me.
August 25th 2012 @ 10:24am
matt said | August 25th 2012 @ 10:24am | Report comment
Well regardless of cycling and Lance, having just digested the Olympics I find it very striking that a never ending witch hunt against Lance takes place, while at the other end of the spectrum every single high profile US Olympic athlete is treated like the sun shines out of their behinds.
Carl Lewis multiple positive tests. Flo Jo, dead. Marion Jones fessed up much later on. Justin Gatlin and the list just goes on an on and on.
I admit my view is completely tainted but the 3 US girls that Sally beat in the 100m hurdles were/are all juiced up to the 9′s. Ditto the entire US track and field team IMO (at every single olympics….)
Anyway, it just frustrates me that 1 US body conducts a witch hunt, while all other US bodies effectively endorse cheating by US athletes.
As for cycling, fact is, all the contenders Lance beat over the years were also juiced up. So unlike Track n field at least he was operating on a level playing field.
August 25th 2012 @ 12:06pm
sittingbison said | August 25th 2012 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
Matt, it was USADA that prosecuted and sanctioned Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, justin Gatlin, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens et al. So no, its not a Lance witch hunt.
You are completely correct about the freak show lol