Friday 24 August 2012

Should Lance Armstrong lose his Tour de France titles?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would know that Lance Armstrong has given up his battle with the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA), and has lost his seven Tour de France titles in the process.

The USADA have accepted his decision as a guilty plea, and are determined to issue him with a lifetime ban.

However is it right that he lost his Yellow Jerseys and his Olympic bronze medal while there is no formal evidence against him?

Armstrong isn’t the first athlete to be banned despite no positive samples, American Track and field star Marion Jones conceded her 5 Olympic medals after admitting to doping in 2007. Similarly, British cyclist David Millar was banned from competing in 2004 when Paris police carried out a drug raid on his apartment; however he has since been cleared to compete.

However unlike Jones and Millar, there is no conclusive evidence that Lance Armstrong did cheat, as he has neither admitted to doping nor has any banned substance been found on his person.

Throughout his career, Armstrong was rigorously tested by anti-doping agencies, as suspicions were rife that the cancer survivor could dominate World Cycling.
 
Throughout the day millions of Sports fans have taken to twitter to comment upon the news of Armstrong’s case.

Some Twitter users like @gordondamer still view him as a hero:
“Since 1997 Lance Armstrong has raised 470 million dollars for cancer research. Like I care that he may have cheated in a bicycle race.”
 
While many others have taken the liberty to mock Armstrong, saying:
“RT if you have as many Tour De France wins as Lance Armstrong.”

While world renowned bullshitter, Piers Morgan tweeted:
“Anyone who thinks Lance Armstrong would quit his doping defence if he wasn't guilty is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Despite the fact that I am a strong advocate of Anti-Doping, I believe everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and the USADA lacks the evidence that Armstrong is guilty. In my eyes he will remain the man that overcame cancer to become king of the Tour de France.

UPDATE: Given the release of the shocking evidence released by the USADA, Armstrong is completely guilty and doesn't deserve to keep any of the titles he won in his career and I find it disgusting that he has been allowed to keep his Olympic bronze medal. Despite this, Lance Armstrong has accomplished a lot in his life; he overcame cancer, raised awareness for the disease and then went on to raise millions in the battle to fight cancer.

Photo by Anita Ritenour

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