USADA v Armstrong - Charges

The USADA report list six charges against Lance Armstrong:

1. Use and / or attempted use of prohibitive substances
2. Possession of prohibitive substances
3. Trafficking of prohibitive susbstances
4. Administration and / or attemted administration of prohibitive substance to others
5. Assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up and other complicity
6. Aggravating circumstances

The difficulty I have with charge one is that testing should have caught it. According to the report, from 1999 - 2005, 20 of the 21 Tour podium finishers have been linked to doping and that from 1996 - 2010, thirty-six of forty-five have been linked.

Hopefully the report will give some insight into how Lance Armstrong could have avoided detection during that time when so many others were caught.

USADA v Armstrong - Introduction

The introduction of the USADA report summarized that the USADA interviewed multiple team members and that several of those team members are quite prominant. It also stated that financial records had been obtained. The USADA requested to interview Lance Armstrong and that he refused and based upon that refusal, the USADA published their reasoned decision.

Since Lance Armstrong chose not to cooperate with the USADA, they were able to review the information they received and reach their decision. I'm assuming it's called a reasoned decision since the information was not initially reviewed by a nuetral arbitrator.

USADA Report

I wasn't going to read the USADA report against Lance Armstrong but after being asked what I thought by several friends, I decided to take a look. First, a little about where I stood at the start. I am someone who believes that Armstrong did it clean. I wear the yellow band. I find it hard to believe that anyone could consistantly beat the system. It would have to require inside knowledge of when testing was going to be done. It would require having access to doctors around the clock to help beat the test.

That's where I start from. I hope to read a few pages a day and write what I find and think.