Lance Armstrong admits to cheating.

Laces_0ut

wow! really disappointing. he was so smug and swore up and down about his innocence.

technically he's "dropping the fight"

"Details are still trickling in at this moment, but the Associated Press is reporting that seven-time Tour de France-winning cyclist Lance Armstrong has dropped his fight against doping charges leveled at him by the US Anti-Doping Agency. This means that he likely will be, as the Daily News puts it so succinctly, "stripped of Tour de France titles and banned for life." Specifically, he'll be stripped of all titles and accomplishments going back to August 1, 1998, including a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics."

http://deadspin.com/5937480/lance-armstrong-drops-fight-against-doping-charges-will-likely-be-stripped-of-tour-titles-and-banned-for-life

Sabine_Stroehm

he said:
In a statement sent to the AP, Armstrong said: “Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities.”

Did he cheat? I don't know. Did he ADMIT TO CHEATING? I've read nothing that suggests he has.

Laces_0ut

so if he's innocent hes going to let them strip him of everything he's won? nobody would do that. nobody would give you their legacy.

Laces_0ut

this is probably what is happening. he knows the US anti doping agency has all the evidence it needs and that he will lose. so now he will just try to walk away to leave doubt in some people's minds.

Sabine_Stroehm

Again: HE HAS NOT ADMITTED TO CHEATING

Did he? Perhaps. Will he? Who knows. Meanwhile: Your topic heading is false.
In fact, he's done the OPPOSITE of admitting to cheating.

Interesting editorial from velo news:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/08/news/commentary-armstrong-the-martyr-changes-the-conversation-by-refusing-arbitration_235712

Laces_0ut

yeah i definitely should have headed this wrong but it seems you cant edit the title.

but any reasonable person can see he's guilty of cheating. mountains of evidence and now he's not even going to fight it.

very disappoinnting. what will all the people he inspired think?

55AngelH55

.... what?!!?!? a celebrity cheated?!?!!?!

DollyMiel

I don't know if he has or not, but that doesn't mean he did. A lot of people just don't want to argue. He seems like he has other things that are more important to him. He may not feel he has anything to prove to anyone, only to himself.

But who knows.

krystymc

i don't feel he cheated. i'd have to have him outright say it. sometimes celebrities and such get attacked and they just settle. it isn't an admission of guilt. it's an admission of not being able to fight a bigger force and wanting to focus on something else. it sounds to me like he's retired and just done with this era of his life. he knows what he did, and he's been tested, was testing during the races. that should stand up to his real fans and those he inspired! it does for me!

http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/1246408--lance-armstrong-drops-fight-against-anti-doping-agency-puts-7-tour-wins-at-risk

Armstrong, who retired last year, declined to enter arbitration — his last option — because he said he was weary of fighting accusations that have dogged him for years. He has consistently pointed to the hundreds of drug tests that he has passed as proof of his innocence.

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now,” Armstrong said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. He called the USADA investigation an “unconstitutional witch hunt.”

“I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999,” he said. “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.”

_the_feniks_

If he did not cheat and is just giving up on the issue, he lacks principle. I would have more respect for him if he came out and admitted to cheating, if that is the case. I tend to believe it is. However, I cannot fault a cancer survivor with one testicle trying to regain a competitive edge in one of the most grueling endurance races in the world.

If he cheated, how much did it really help him? Who is to say? His dominance could not all be attributed to the alleged doping, in my opinion.

Elzecat

he said:
In a statement sent to the AP, Armstrong said: “Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities.”

Did he cheat? I don't know. Did he ADMIT TO CHEATING? I've read nothing that suggests he has.

^This.

ladytinkerbell99

Again: HE HAS NOT ADMITTED TO CHEATING

Did he? Perhaps. Will he? Who knows. Meanwhile: Your topic heading is false.
In fact, he's done the OPPOSITE of admitting to cheating.

Interesting editorial from velo news:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/08/news/commentary-armstrong-the-martyr-changes-the-conversation-by-refusing-arbitration_235712

^ Agreed.

Elzecat

yeah i definitely should have headed this wrong but it seems you cant edit the title.

but any reasonable person can see he's guilty of cheating. mountains of evidence and now he's not even going to fight it.

very disappoinnting. what will all the people he inspired think?

mountains of evidence?

All the articles I've been reading (multiple sources) say he's been tested CLEAN 100s of times...so...who has this evidence?

I don't know him personally and am not involved in the cycling world; I can't speculate on whether he did or didn't.

But not fighting doesn't automatically = guilt.

DaneDillinger

yeah i definitely should have headed this wrong but it seems you cant edit the title.

but any reasonable person can see he's guilty of cheating. mountains of evidence and now he's not even going to fight it.

very disappoinnting. what will all the people he inspired think?

All the people he inspired will think the same thing they think when another sports idol gets exposed- "I probably shouldn't put so much faith in someone that I barely know who gets paid to do what kids do for free." I was a big Mark McGwire fan when I was a kid, but was I shocked when he was accused of steroid use (which he subsequently admitted)? No. You know why? Because he was built like a pro wrestler. In my childhood room, I had 3 posters- McGwire, Darryl Strawberry and Lawrence Taylor. Was I shocked when Darryl and LT admitted drug use? No. I was thankful for the production they brought to their respective teams.

What I'm trying to say is that this story will be hued according to your own personal prism. You can look at Armstrong as a cheat, which he more than likely is, and feel that you were misled into feeling empathy for him and being inspired by him and wearing yellow bracelets... OR... you can look at him as a cheat who brought increased awareness to cancer and raised over $500 million for cancer research, which in turn helped save lives. Yeah, he's a prick. And yeah, he's a really good guy (maybe to make up for being a prick). Nobody is just one thing- it's the duality of man- 2 sides of the same coin. In many ways, it's not clothes or money but contradictions that makes the man. People are fallible (well, people not named Derek Jeter, who may very well be the 37th reincarnation of Buddha), which is why many people look to religion, because only god is infallible, or so I've been told. Or if you're like me, you place no faith in man or spirit, still try to do more right than wrong, and enjoy sports for what they are- games. Games being played by men/women in suspended adolescence/arrested development.

Thank you for your time.

Crystal_Pistol

There is no unified regulating body in cycling. This is the same thing as boxing. An organization can take THEIR belt, but not others. USADA saying he is "stripped" means the same thing as me saying he's stripped. They have control over "their" world and records, but it's not an end all be all.

He didn't say he cheated, he basically said he doesn't give a **** what they say because they can't take his money LOL.

NWCountryGal

That's sad but if he was guilty, I bet he will feel much better about admitting it. I can't imagine being in his shoes though and won't even try. I think being famous would be one of the hardest things in the world.

denise

wow! really disappointing. he was so smug and swore up and down about his innocence.

technically he's "dropping the fight"

"Details are still trickling in at this moment, but the Associated Press is reporting that seven-time Tour de France-winning cyclist Lance Armstrong has dropped his fight against doping charges leveled at him by the US Anti-Doping Agency. This means that he likely will be, as the Daily News puts it so succinctly, "stripped of Tour de France titles and banned for life." Specifically, he'll be stripped of all titles and accomplishments going back to August 1, 1998, including a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics."

http://deadspin.com/5937480/lance-armstrong-drops-fight-against-doping-charges-will-likely-be-stripped-of-tour-titles-and-banned-for-life

nursenessa1

He did not admit to cheating. You are a fibber.

Crystal_Pistol

Saying he's "Stripped of His Titles" is a better headline than "Armstrong was Stripped of His Titles by One of Several Organizations that Proclaims to Be the End All in Cycling"

I'm actually watching SportsCenter at the moment.

Pspetal

I'm sorry but I have now read 5 different articles about this and not in one of them does it say that he admitted to cheating.
You clearly did NOT read through the article you linked to before you posted it with such a misleading title.

ZeroWoIf

Kind of hypocrite society we live in. Everybody in sports cheats literally. Those scumbags in the government should clean their freaking closets before trying to clean up somebody else's *kitten*. Same people he raced with cheated too and lost to him. Nothing ever changes with sports in this era or the next. Everyone will be cheat but I guess you are only a cheater when you are caught.

saragato

At this point, does it even matter? They're arguing over long-gone events. It's in the past and as far as I see it, no one but the people accusing him cares.