The USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) is doing everything it can to destroy every shed of credibility still left attached to Lance Armstrong. After stripping his 7 Tour de France wins and ban him for life from Elite sport, they’re set to releaseĀ more than 1000 pages of evidence that led to the decision.
What does it include?Ā The sworn testimonies of 26 individuals, including 11 former team-mates;Ā financial statements and emails that detail the most “sophisticated,Ā professionalizedĀ and successful doping program” in the sport’s history, and will be supported by a 200-page statement from USADA explaining its decision.
Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie all testified against Armstrong. He gave up on the right to defend himself, pretty much sticking to the story that he’s innocent and never actually usedĀ performanceĀ enhancing drugs. He just doesn’t feel like fighting for it anymore.
There’s certainly a witch hunt feel to the matter, but the problem is that even if the USADA areĀ targetingĀ Lance Armstrong, making him their big drug prize, making some sort of terrible symbol out of him, just like Nike made him many years ago when he was the living, breathing, cycling proof that you can be a world champion in one of the toughest competitions on earth after cancer, all the evidence point to one fact – He did it.
All his previous heroics and life hardships don’t matter. He might be a great human being and still an inspiration to millions. The evidence, at least the USADA evidence and testimonies, clearly show that Armstrong cheated, knowingly, for years. And he might still be the beacon of a war against cancer, but he just can’t be a Tour de France champion and a sporting legend anymore.