USADA’s ‘overwhelming’ case against Lance Armstrong
On Wednesday, at my kids’ school, at the outdoor amphitheater with the sun shining bright in the brilliant blue of an October California morning sky, I had the privilege of moderating a panel at which four U.S. Olympians spoke about dreams, goals, hard work and effort.
Steve Lewis, the 1988 gold medalist in the 400 meters, delighted everyone with the tale of how he won when nobody thought he could. Courtney Mathewson talked about how the 2012 U.S. women’s water polo team came together to win gold for the very first time. Nicole Davis, the U.S. women’s volleyball libero, spoke about how persistence and effort had driven her and the team to silver in 2008 and 2012.
And Alexi Lalas, who played on the 1992 and 1996 soccer teams and is now an ESPN analyst, reminded everyone that winning isn’t everything. It’s the taking part. It’s the struggle, the journey. It’s — the dream.
At the end of the program, we allotted 20 minutes for photos and autographs. You should have seen the kids, and even the grown-ups, rush down with their iPhones, their cameras and their pens and paper.
At Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, Calif.: (left to right): U.S. Olympians Alexi Lalas, soccer 1992-96; Nicole Davis, volleyball, 2008-12; Steve Lewis, track and field, 1988-92; Courtney Mathewson, water polo, 2012
It’s important to put all of that front and center on a day like Wednesday, when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency set forth in black and white the details of the “overwhelming” case against Lance Armstrong.
It’s far too easy to make the case against Armstrong what, on one level, it is: a simple legal matter.
But that’s not what it’s about.
It’s about something much, much bigger.
It’s about changing the culture of sport.
That change has to happen so that we can all get back to what really matters: dreams, and goals, and autographs and pictures.
Doping is cheating. Cheating is wrong. There’s no grey there.
Only by breaking through the code of silence in cycling, the “omertà,” and getting those who had made bad choices to acknowledge them — that, from the start, has always been USADA’s ambition.
The document made public Wednesday marks a major step forward.
To be clear, none of the evidence detailed by USADA was obtained by the U.S. grand jury inquiry in Los Angeles involving Armstrong that was closed in February without the filing of any charges. Again — none. USADA said Wednesday it had asked for copies of non-grand jury evidence but has gotten nothing.
Instead, it said, after that inquiry closed it launched its own and came to an unequivocal conclusion:
“… Lance Armstrong and his handlers engaged in a massive and long running scheme to use drugs, cover their tracks, intimidate witnesses, tarnish reputations, lie to hearing panels and the press and do whatever was necessary to conceal the truth.”
The evidence against Armstrong, USADA emphasized, is “beyond strong; it is as strong as, or stronger than, that presented in any case” in USADA’s 12-year existence.
USADA got to that point by offering everyone the same proposition:
Cycling has a doping problem. Meet with us. Change the culture. Be part of the solution.
Others took them up on that offer: Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters, David Zabriskie.
Armstrong did not.
The level of detail in the USADA document can be astonishing.
In 1999, Hamilton told USADA, Armstrong won the Tour by using the banned blood-booster EPO “every third or fourth day.”
In 2000, with rumors of a new test for EPO abounding, Hamilton said that 500 cc’s of blood taken out earlier that year at a hotel in Valencia, Spain, went back in on the evening of Tuesday, July 11, in the Hôtel l’Esplan in Saint-Paul-Trois- Châteaux near Mount Ventoux; Hamilton said that he, Kevin Livingston and Armstrong — the three best hill-climbers on the team and thus the three who were getting the transfusions — “joked about whose body was absorbing the blood the fastest.”
Hincapie, meanwhile, is a five-time Olympian, long considered Armstrong’s most trusted lieutenant, the only rider with Armstrong on all seven of Armstrong’s winning Tour teams from 1999-2005.
USADA said Hincapie testified that he was aware of Armstrong’s use of the blood-booster EPO and blood transfusions; that Armstrong provided EPO to him, Hincapie, for his own use; that Hincapie, like Armstrong, was a client of the Italian Dr. Michele Ferrari, who incorporated EPO and blood-doping into Hincapie’s training program.
On his own website, Hincapie issued a statement that said he had doped but been clean since 2006. Two years ago, he said, he had been approached by U.S. federal investigators; more recently, by USADA. He said he “understood that I was obligated to tell the truth about everything that I knew. So that is what I did.”
Ferrari is blandly described in the document as a “consultant” to pro cyclists.
The evidence, according to USADA, further includes banking and accounting records from a Swiss company controlled by Ferrari reflecting more than $1 million in payments by Armstrong; extensive e-mails back and forth between Ferrari and his son and Armstrong during a time period when Armstrong claimed not to be in touch; and a “vast amount of additional data,” including lab test results and expert analysis of Armstrong’s blood work.
Vande Velde, in a statement on his website posted Wednesday, said, “Ironically, I never won while doping. I was more or less treading water. This does not make it OK. I saw the line and I crossed it, myself. I am deeply sorry for the decisions I made in the past — to my family, my fans, my peers, to the sport that I love and those in and out of it — I’m sorry. I always will be.”
Barry, in a statement posted Wednesday on his site, said, “As a boy, my dream was to become a professional cyclist who raced at the highest level in Europe.” He signed his first contract with the U.S. Postal team in 2002: “Soon after I realized reality was not what I had dreamed. Doping had become an epidemic problem in professional cycling.”
He went on to say that he doped, that he regretted it and that in 2006 he became a “proponent of clean cycling,” adding, “I apologize to those I deceived … I will work hard to regain people’s trust.”
It would have been unthinkable to see such confessions made public even just weeks ago — before USADA’s case against Armstrong.
The USADA document released Wednesday, formally called a “reasoned decision,” runs to more than 200 pages. It will be further dissected, and appropriately, in the days and weeks to come.
What matters most is that it’s out there. As it says on page five: “It is important that facts relating to doping not be hidden from public view so that there is confidence in case outcomes and sport can learn from each case.”
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Ouch.
The panel of Olympians got it right! Let us hope in the end the legacy of Lance Armstrong will be the lesson that cheating and lying will haunt you until those who know the truth tell the world. What we are hearing now about Armstrong and his teammates is just one example of how drug cheats took over endurance sports. Make no mistake about what is happening here. This is not a case of scientific anti-doping testing catching drug cheats, no, what happened here is that those who cheated felt the need to tell the truth, clear the air and make their apologies. That gives me great hope. Testing is important, it limits the effectiveness of cheating but the historic track record on catching cheats is not impressive, but it is improving. So much so that clean athletes can win in endurance sports. Let us hope that this world-wide spectacle of one of the most famous and powerful endurance athletes the world has ever known being pulled apart by those who know him best, will be the ultimate deterrent. Because though athletes may be able to beat the tests, doping is so complicated that many many people will know what they did. And in time the truth will come out. But as Alan said this case is about building a culture of honesty in sport, “That change has to happen so that we can all get back to what really matters: dreams, and goals, and autographs and pictures.”
We win, not when an American stands on the podium at the Olympic Games (or Tour de France), but when that victory is predicated on integrity and resonates within our society. When it reminds us all, young and old, that the realm of the possible waits for us just beyond the horizon. We win when the friendships and performances and even victories of other teams let us see the world in a different light. That is the promise of the Olympic Games and it is what defines the movement’s iconic place in our society. It is what ignites passion and inspires our youth to win.
What is being done to Lance Armstrong & the sport of cycling is disgusting. Did he dope? Yeah, probably. Were George Washington & Thomas Jefferson slave owners? You betcha. it was the time, place & culture in which they lived. Do we now DEMONIZE these founders & leaders of our country because of it? Single them out as the worst offenders because they rose the highest? Pathetic.
USADA points to the US Postal pro-cycling team as “the most sophisticated, professionalized & successful doping program that SPORT HAS EVER SEEN”. Oh really? This miniscule, financially pathetic sport? Where ALL the money the US Postal Service spent during the years of their sponsorship would barely cover 2 years of Alex Rodriguez’ salary? Guffaw.
This just in – Manolo Saiz (of Operation Purto infamy) is filing suit in Switzerland (wink, wink) against Travis Tygart & USADA for “refusing to give credit where credit is due”.
Update! The ex-East Germans are joining so it will be a class action suit!
Here comes Victor Conte of BALCO fame.
The MLB joins up.
The international TRACK & FIELD community of 1980-2000, ahem, RUNS to join.
The Jamaica track sprint team of the last decade SPRINTS in.
The 1980s, 1990s, 2000s XC SKI teams of Soviet Union-Russia, Austria, Italy, Norway, aw, heck, everywhere, slooshes in.
The interntational WEIGHTLIFTING teams of past 4 DECADES, er, weighs in.
The CHINESE OLYMPIC committee just smiles…
The NFL is dying to join but they’ve still got everyone convinced that humans weigh 300 lbs of pure muscle just by lifting weights & “eating right”. This alone deserves special mention.
I have not yet finished reading the 200 page “summary” but somewhere in there, I’m sure Travis will finger Lance as Keyser Soze. And the world will at last be safe from demon cycling.
There are a lot of opinions about the motives behind the USADA and other organizations and why Armstrong was “singled” out when there are many other problem areas. I can see why his fans and followers are not happy. My main issue is still that he cheated, lied and made money doing it. I’m sure he has done good things for cancer and his foundation but what kind of example is that? Can I seriously tell my kids, “If you really want to be successful you’ll probably have to lie and cheat but as long as you use the money for good things it’s OK.”?
Those people who used drugs to get advantage over those who don’t are ALL wrong. If 400 people rob banks and the 401st decides to get involved and rob a bank too it’s not less wrong for the 401st! I don’t see why that’s so hard to understand. If it’s banned and you put it in your body on purpose, you cheated. That’s wrong. It’s not demonizing Armstrong, it’s trying to stick to the values that even 5 year old children can understand.
Besides all that, I”ll always be impressed with what he did as an athlete…on a bike…on drugs.