You want evidence? Here's plenty from the USADA's website:
From Roto-Reuters via Yahoo News:
Armstrong steps down from charity; Nike drops sponsorship
Lance Armstrong on Wednesday stepped down as chairman of the charity he founded to distance the cancer patient-support organization from the widening doping scandal that promises to cost him his seven Tour de France cycling titles.
At the same time, one of his long-time corporate sponsors, Nike
Inc., said it could no longer ignore the growing evidence of his
illicit behavior as one of the cycling world's premier athletes and
dropped its sponsorship of him.
Armstrong said in a statement: "To spare the (Livestrong)
foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding
my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship." He will continue to
serve on the board.
Armstrong, 41, has
always denied he took banned substances during his glittering career but
decided not to challenge the USADA charges against him.
Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation
in 1997 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in late 1996,
according to the foundation's website. The organization launched the Livestrong brand in 2003 as it widened its cancer patient-support services, and the foundation is now known by both names.
His departure as
chairman comes just two days before the foundation's fund-raising gala
in Austin, Texas, where Armstrong lives. Celebrities such as Sean Penn
and Ben Stiller are expected to attend, with comedian Robin Williams and
singer Norah Jones to provide entertainment.
"It is his effort
to inoculate the foundation against any risk or damage associated with
current controversy in the cycling world," Livestrong spokeswoman Katherine McLane said in an interview.
So far, the foundation's financial health appears not to have suffered from Armstrong's cycling scandal.
Contributions have actually risen this year as the USADA
probe gathered momentum. For the year 2012 to date, the foundation has
reported revenue of $33.8 million, up 2.1 percent from this point a year
ago, according to documents provided to Reuters.
Since late August, when Armstrong said he would not contest the USADA findings and the agency said it planned to strip him of his titles, Livestrong
has received more than 16,000 contributions, averaging about $97 each.
"This is almost twice normal levels," Rae Bazzarre, another Livestrong spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Nike, in
reversing its earlier stand in support of Armstrong, said it was
severing ties with Armstrong, but would continue to support Livestrong.
"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong
participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is
with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him," the
company said in a statement. "Nike does not condone the use of illegal
performance enhancing drugs in any manner."
Cycling's world governing body, the International Cycling Union, has yet to rule on the USADA
report. They can either confirm Armstrong's life ban and strip him of
his seven Tour titles or take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for
Sport.
The USADA
report accused Armstrong, as head of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling
Team, of running "the most sophisticated, professionalized and
successful doping program that sport has ever seen." The report included
sworn testimony of 26 people, including 15 riders, who described years
of performance-enhancing drug use.
From Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News:
From Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News:
Cyclist Lance Armstrong
has been stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and banned
for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Last week
USADA released a 1,000 page report accusing the 41-year-old American of
being involved in "the most sophisticated, professionalised and
successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".
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