Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Lance Armstrong. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Lance Armstrong. Mostrar todas las entradas
sábado, enero 19, 2013
viernes, enero 18, 2013
jueves, enero 17, 2013
Armstrong: 'Yes,' he used performance-enhancing drugs
"Yes."
That was Lance Armstrong's response to Oprah Winfrey's initial question in her much-publicized interview with the former seven-time Tour de France winner on whether he used performance-enhancing drugs to aid his victories in all seven of the prestigious races.
Armstrong said a "win at all costs" mentality and "arrogance" were behind his cheating, and accepted blame for his mistakes, saying he deserves the scrutiny he's now come under in the wake of being stripped of his titles.
Armstrong answered "yes" to separate questions about whether he used EPO, whether he partook in blood transfusions, whether he used took human-growth hormone and whether he used performance-enhancing drugs in all seven of his Tour de France victories. He answered "no" when asked if he felt his accomplishments were possible without the assistance of banned substances.
Armstrong did insist that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs beyond 2005, and that his third-place finish in his 2009 comeback to the Tour de France was clean.
Reflecting back on his era of cycling dominance, Armstrong said that "the winning was almost phoned in," and he did not feel bad about using banned drugs, and furthermore did not feel that using banned drugs was cheating, revelations that he now, in hindsight, finds "scary." In a moment of contrition, Armstrong said that his longtime supporters "have every right to feel betrayed," and that he'll spend the rest of his life apologizing to make it up to them.
On the topic of illegal testosterone use, Armstrong had a controversial excuse, saying he used it because he was running low on his natural supply of the hormone due to his battle with cancer.
Armstrong insisted that there was no directive within his U.S. Postal Service team requiring riders to conform with the doping program in which he and other riders partook. That stands in contrast with statements from former teammates, notably Christian Vande Velde, who says he was threatened with being kicked off the team before partaking in the program.
Armstrong also confessed to being "a bully," and wanting to control the narrative, reacting negatively to statements he didn't like. It's a pattern of behavior Armstrong said has followed him his entire life, and one evident in Armstrong's frequent denials of doping over the years before and since his retirement.
When asked pointedly whether he required or expected teammates to dope for the sake of achieving a certain level of team success, Armstrong responded, "absolutely not."
Armstong hesitated before responding, "No," when asked if Dr. Michele Ferrari was at the head of the team's doping program, but also said he was reckless to be involved with the Italian physician and cycling coach, who's been issued a lifetime sports ban by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for multiple anti-doping violations. Armstrong characterized the entire period of his life as "reckless."
Armstrong said a donation made to UCI, cycling's chief organizing body, was made "because they asked me to," and not in an attempt to bribe officials to hide positive test results.
Winfrey pressed Armstrong on the topic of lawsuits filed against people who spoke out against Armstrong, among them Emma O'Reilly, a former masseuse for the U.S. Postal Service team. "It's a major flaw," Armstrong said of lawsuits against O'Reilly and others who were speaking the truth. "It's a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted and control every outcome. It's inexcusable."
The International Olympic Committee didn't wait to listen to Armstrong's interview.
The IOC on Wednesday stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal, sending him a letter asking him to return it, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.
For others who will tune in Thursday, it's not just what Armstrong said that matters. How he said it, whether angry, tearful or matter-of-fact, will be judged as well.
"I left it all on the table with her and when it airs the people can decide," Armstrong said of his interview in a text sent to the AP on Wednesday. He dismissed a story earlier in the day that described him as "not contrite" when he acknowledged doping while dominating the cycling world.
Livestrong, the cancer charity Armstrong founded in 1997 and was forced to walk away from last year, said in a statement it expected him to be "completely truthful and forthcoming." A day earlier, World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said nothing short of a confession under oath — "not talking to a talk-show host" — could prompt a reconsideration of Armstrong's lifetime ban from sanctioned events. And Frankie Andreu, a former teammate that Armstrong turned on, said the disgraced cyclist had an obligation to tell all he knew and help clean up the sport.
"I have no idea what the future holds other than me holding my kids," Armstrong said in the text.
Armstrong has held conversations with officials from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, including a reportedly contentious face-to-face meeting with USADA chief executive Travis Tygart near the Denver airport. It was USADA's 1,000-page report last year, including testimony from nearly a dozen former teammates, that portrayed Armstrong as the leader of a sophisticated doping ring that propelled the U.S. Postal Service team to title after title at the Tour de France. In addition to the lifetime ban, Armstrong was stripped of all seven wins, lost nearly all of his endorsements and was forced to cut ties with Livestrong.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Armstrong has information that might lead to his ban being reduced to eight years. That would make him eligible to compete in elite triathlons, many of which are sanctioned under world anti-doping rules, in 2020, when Armstrong will be 49. He was a professional athlete in the three-discipline sport as a teenager, and returned to competition after retiring from cycling in 2011.
That person also said the bar for Armstrong's redemption is higher now than when the case was open, a time during which he refused to speak to investigators. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a confidential matter.
Armstrong, who always prized loyalty on his racing teams, now faces some very tough choices himself: whether to cooperate and name those who may have aided, abetted or helped cover up the long-time use of PEDs.
Armstrong left his hometown of Austin, where the interview was taped at a downtown hotel, and is in Hawaii. He is named as a defendant in at least two pending lawsuits, and possibly a third. The Justice Department faces a Thursday deadline on whether to join a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping.
That suit alleges Armstrong defrauded the U.S. government by repeatedly denying he used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong could be required to return substantial sponsorship fees and pay a hefty fine. The AP reported earlier that Justice Department officials were likely to join the lawsuit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
martes, enero 15, 2013
OPRAH ON LANCE: He Did 'Not Come Clean in The Manner' I Expected
Oprah Winfrey said Lance Armstrong, who she said confessed to her that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his string of Tour de France victories, did 'not come clean in the manner' she expected, Reuters reported.
Winfrey went on to say that she would leave it to others to decided if the former champion was contrite during the interview that was taped on Monday in Texas, but she did call him thoughtful and serious.
A group of about 10 close friends and advisers to Armstrong left a downtown Austin hotel about three hours after they arrived Monday afternoon for the taping. Among them were Armstrong attorneys Tim Herman and Sean Breen, along with Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's longtime agent, manager and business partner. All declined comment entering and exiting the session.
Soon afterward, Winfrey tweeted: "Just wrapped with (at)lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours. He came READY!"
In a text to the AP on Saturday, Armstrong said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."
Speaking on "CBS This Morning," Winfrey said she had not planned to address Armstrong's confession before the interview aired on her OWN network but, "by the time I left Austin and landed in Chicago, you all had already confirmed it."
Armstrong was stripped of all seven Tour titles last year following a voluminous U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that portrayed him as a ruthless competitor, willing to go to any lengths to win the prestigious race.
USADA chief executive Travis Tygart labeled the doping regimen allegedly carried out by the U.S. Postal Service team that Armstrong once led, "The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
Cycling's governing body urged Armstrong on Tuesday to testify before its independent commission on doping.
The International Cycling Union, or UCI, said it was aware of media reports that Armstrong had come clean and confessed to doping during an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday.
"If these reports are true, we would strongly urge Lance Armstrong to testify to the Independent Commission established to investigate the allegations made against the UCI in the recent USADA reasoned decision on Lance Armstrong and the United States Postal Service (USPS) team," the federation said in a statement.
The UCI said it would not make any further comment until it has viewed the interview, which is to be broadcast on Thursday night.
The UCI set up an independent panel in November to investigate the Armstrong case and what role the governing body had in the scandal. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency raised suspicions of UCI collusion with Armstrong in its damming report that led to the cyclist being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life.
The UCI has been accused of covering up suspicious samples from Armstrong, accepting financial donations from him and helping him avoid detection in doping tests.
Armstrong is reportedly considering testifying against UCI officials.
Former UCI President Hein Verbruggen said Tuesday he wasn't ready to speak about the Armstrong case.
"I haven't seen the interview. It's all guessing," Verbruggen told the AP. "After that, we have an independent commission which I am very confident will find out the truth of these things."
The three-member independent commission is chaired by retired British judge Philip Otton. He is working alongside Australian lawyer Malcolm Holmes and Tanni Grey-Thompson, a 10-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair racing who is now a lawmaker in the upper chamber of Britain's Parliament.
The three-member panel will meet in London from April 9-26, with a June 1 deadline to deliver its report.
The cycling body has said the three will have access to "all relevant documents in the control or possession of the UCI," including bank and telephone records and laboratory test results.
lunes, enero 14, 2013
Lance Armstrong apologizes to Livestrong staff
Katherine McLane did not provide any information about what Armstrong was apologizing for.
The apology came ahead of Armstrong's scheduled interview with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey - his first since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in a doping scandal.
martes, enero 08, 2013
Lance Armstrong to address alleged doping in interview with Oprah
 |
| Lucas Jackson / Reuters file |
Oprah Winfrey has landed a sit-down, "no holds barred" interview with Lance Armstrong, her network OWN announced Tuesday. The cyclist will address the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied cycling career, according to the release.
An exclusive interview with the disgraced cyclist is precisely what media outlets have been clamoring for. Not only have rumors of his use of performance-enhancing drugs been rampant for years now, but in recent months he's been given a lifetime ban from the sport of cycling; was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles; stepped down as chairman from Livestrong, his cancer-research foundation; and has lost nearly all endorsements, including those from Nike and Budweiser.
Since these developments, Armstrong has said very little. In fact, the last statement he made publicly, which he linked to on his Twitter account, was in October, in response to stepping down from Livestrong. In that statement, he did not explicitly admit to wrongdoing, but only said he was leaving Livestrong "to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career."
Rumors that Armstrong might be considering admitting to his drug use originally surfaced during the weekend of Jan. 5.
The Winfrey interview, which will air as a 90-minute episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter," will be broadcast on OWN on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 9 p.m.
domingo, octubre 14, 2012
The Women in the Lance Armstrong Doping Scandal
Behind the riders, the drugs and the secrets there were the women.
And they made choices, too, choices that may have set in motion the
unraveling of the greatest doping scandal in the history of sport.
In 2004, Lance Armstrong's most trusted teammate George Hincapie wrote
an email to the man who used to be Armstrong's closest friend on the
bike circuit, Frankie Andreu.
It said: "I cannot understand how you can just sit around and let betsy try and take down the whole team."
It was a reference to Andreu's wife, Betsy, who had started doing
something no one on the drug-tainted team had apparently ever done
before. She started questioning what was going on and even speaking out.
"In the beginning, I was scared," said Betsy Andreu from her home in
Dearborn, Mich. "But I thought this is bull and something has to be done
about it. I had to get the truth out."
The U.S. Anti Doping Agency case against disgraced Tour de France
champion Lance Armstrong is filled with sworn affidavits, statement
after statement by riders admitting their drug use on the bike.
The case includes stories of wives being in on the scandal. Armstrong's
ex-wife Kristin is said to have told people they called the blood
booster EPO "butter" because they kept it with the butter in their
refrigerator.
According to the USADA file: "Later at the World Championships at
Valkenberg in the Netherlands the U.S. riders arrived at their tent near
the start of the race to find that Armstrong had asked his wife Kristin
to wrap cortisone tablets in tin foil for him and his teammates.
Kristin obliged. ... One of the riders remarked 'Lance's wife is
rolling joints.'"
The Andreus had been close friends with the Armstrongs, often dining together and socializing between races.
They were neighbors in Europe and spent huge amounts of time together.
Betsy Andreu grew uncomfortable as she started to hear more and more
talk of drug use and says she asked Kristin Armstrong about it.
"It's a necessary evil," Armstrong's then wife said according to the case file. More >>
--------------------------------------
Also:
El informe de la USADA contiene numerosos testimonios del dopaje generalizado. Los más relevantes del escándalo:
“Ahora no puedes escribir un libro sobre la EPO”.
Durante la Vuelta a España de 1998, Vaughters, compañero de equipo del
texano, fue a su habitación para utilizar su ordenador portátil. Delante
de él, Armstrong se inyectó con una jeringuilla usada para inyecciones
de EPO, diciendo: “Ahora que tú también utilizas EPO, no puedes escribir
un libro sobre ello”.
“La mujer de Armstrong está liando porros”. Durante
un Mundial en Holanda, explica el informe de la USADA, los ciclistas
estadounidenses llegaron a la carpa del equipo cerca de la salida de la
carrera para encontrarse con que Armstrong le había pedido a su mujer
Kristin que enrollara en papel de plata tabletas de cortisona para él y
sus compañeros. Uno de los corredores subrayó, “la mujer de Lance está
liando porros”.
Del Moral: “¡Qué lío!”. Armstrong se vistió de
amarillo tras la prólogo del Tour de 1999. Días después, su equipo fue
informado de que había dado positivo por un corticoesteroide. Según
testigos presenciales, cuenta el informe de la USADA, el ciclista no
tenía entonces una autorización médica para usar cortisona. Tyler
Hamilton recuerda "muchos tacos de Lance y Johan [Bruyneel, director del
equipo] y al doctor Del Moral repitiendo 'qué lío'. Del Moral, según la
documentación y los testigos aportados por la investigación, habría
solucionado el problema falsificando una receta, con fecha previa al
positivo, para una crema con cortisona.
Bidones de agua con hielo y EPO. Según el testimonio
de Vaughters, el doctor Celaya “distribuiría EPO en bidones de agua
rellenos con viales de EPO apretados entre hielo. En la botella vendrían
el nombre del corredor y el número de dosis”. “Por ejemplo”, declaró
Vaughters; “yo podría recibir uno en el que pusiera, Jonathan 5x2, lo
que significa que contenía cinco viales de EPO con 2000 unidades
internacionales en cada uno”.
Zabriskie: “Nos daba tiempo de bajar nuestro nivel de hematocrito antes de los controles”.
“Johan \[Bruyneel, director del equipo\] siempre parecía saber cuándo
vendrían los inspectores antidopaje”, declaró Zabriskie, ex compañero de
Armstrong. “\[...\] Parecía que había un increíble sistema de aviso.
Como norma, solíamos saber cuándo serían con una hora de antelación.
Había tiempo de sobra para usar un suero salino para rebajar nuestro
nivel de hematocrito”, explicó el ex ciclista.
Tests consistentes con dopaje sanguíneo en 2009 y 2010.
Tras examinar cinco muestras de sangre de Armstrong recogidas durante
el Tour de 2009 y dos correspondientes al de 2010, un experto consultado
por la USADA concluyó que contenían un número “inusualmente bajo” de
reticulocitos. Al compararlos con otras muestras del ex ciclista, el
investigador dedujo que la posibilidad de que esos valores fueran
naturales era menor que una entre un millón. Pese a esos datos, la UCI
decidió no abrir expediente al estadounidense.
miércoles, octubre 10, 2012
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