Lance Armstrong has decided not to fight the sanctions levied against him by the US Anti-Doping Agency after he skipped arbitration. The USADA claims Armstrong had been doping throughout his entire career. Armstrong denies the claims but won’t fight it because he says it’s a “witch hunt” and that the case is “too one-sided.”
Whether or not it is a witch hunt or if the Agency actually has blood tests in line with blood doping and witness testimony as rumored, because he’s not fighting the charges, Armstrong will be stripped of all his medals, including his 7 straight Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005. He’ll also be banned from the sport for life.
There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, “Enough is enough.” For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart’s unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.
I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA’s charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA’s motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.
If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?
Armstrong has now decided to shift his focus more towards his cancer charity, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Some may say this is the right move for a case so unfairly stacked against him, while others may disagree, saying Armstrong probably just doesn’t have the balls to fight it.
