The USADA has stripped Armstrong of his titles and banned him for future cycling competition for good. Armstrong was up against a deadline and decided he would not fight the charges, though he hasn’t admitted guilt.
Count me as one who has believed for a long time that Armstrong is guilty of doping. That said, after reading though this over at Deadspin, I think this whole thing stinks to high heaven. You really do have to read through it to get a feel, but apparently the evidence was so flimsy that it the federal investigation was turned over to the USADA, whom apparently has lower hurdles. Generally, it comes down to who to believe, the cheaters who testified against him or the 7-time Tour winner. It certainly stretches the “presumption of innocence” concept.
On the one hand, I have to wonder why this was ever a federal matter to begin with. Doesn’t the federal government have more interesting things to do than investigate a cyclist? Isn’t that what the cycling bodies are for? And if the federal government couldn’t get the evidence together, why should we suddenly believe it just because some other government agency says it’s good enough?
As I said, I think he’s guilty of doping but the amount of effort to prove it seems like it’s gone beyond reasonable bounds. Sometimes, the best that can be done is to drop an issue, as there’s no way for either side to win. In this case, I think everyone knows Armstrong cheated and that he was exceptional at hiding it, so he’s lost on that front already. The government stands to lose as well, by chasing down a private citizen over what, from a government standpoint, should amount to piffle- a bike race.
Let’s just move on.