Armstrong confirms he received letter from agency accusing him of doping
Lance Armstrong confirms he receives a letter from U.S. Anti-Doping Agency accusing him of doping.
Lance Armstrong confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he received a letter from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency accusing him of doping and banning him from future competitions, beginning a formal process that could strip the cycling legend of his seven Tour de France titles.
Armstrong received the letter from USADA Tuesday notifying him that blood samples the organization collected from him in 2009 and 2010 were “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions,” the Washington Post first reported on its website.
Armstrong, who took up competitive triathlon after retiring from cycling in 2011, has consistently denied doping despite a growing mountain of circumstantial evidence that he used banned drugs and methods.
“I have been notified that USADA, an organization largely funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France victories I earned,” Armstrong said in a statement. “These charges are baseless, motivated by spite and advanced through testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and immunity.”
The action comes just months after a federal grand jury investigation overseen by prosecutors in the Central District of California was unexpectedly suspended without charges. The government gathered sworn testimony in that case linking the legendary cyclist to doping conspiracies.
USADA, a Colorado-based organization that monitors Olympic sports for doping, has been known to cooperate with federal agents in criminal litigation, including the litigation springing from the BALCO doping conspiracy. In the Armstrong case, USADA conducted its own investigation parallel to the federal one.
PETER DEJONG/AP
Travis Tygart, the group's CEO and president, issued a statement Wednesday in response to Armstrong’s statement, saying that “USADA only initiates matters supported by the evidence. We do not choose whether or not we do our job based on outside pressures, intimidation or for any reason other than the evidence.
“Our duty on behalf of clean athletes and those that value the integrity of sport is to fairly and thoroughly evaluate all the evidence available and when there is credible evidence of doping, take action under the established rules,” he continued.
Armstrong can elect to ask for a hearing on the charges, which would be heard by an independent panel of arbitrators, not USADA officials, who will then determine if the violations occurred.
"Our hearts go out to Lance and his family as they face what can only be a very frustrating and difficult time as a result of USADA's actions," said Doug Ulman, the president and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the cyclist's nonprofit cancer awareness organization.
The news broke on the same day that a federal jury was deliberating over whether Armstrong's fellow Texan, Roger Clemens, lied to Congress in 2008 when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs. That case also saw close cooperation between federal agents with subpoena power and a non-governmental investigator.
In the Clemens case, former Senator George Mitchell was granted access to government witnesses.
Armstrong said in his statement Wednesday that USADA is repurposing the “very same charges and the same witnesses that the Justice Department chose not to pursue after a two-year investigation. ... Although USADA alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy extended over more than 16 years, I am the only athlete it has chosen to charge. USADA’s malice, its methods, its star-chamber practices, and its decision to punish first and adjudicate later all are at odds with our ideals of fairness and fair play.”
Armstrong continued, saying he has never doped, a constant refrain over his long career.
“I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one,” he said. “That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence.”
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