More Armstrong drug claims

[Danny]

Tough job being the best cyclist in the world. I'm sure he can handle it though.

Armstrong denies EPO claim
By staff writers with wire services
August 23, 2005
FOXSPORTS

SEVEN-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has denied French newspaper claims that he failed doping tests in 1999.

"Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I've tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs," Armstrong told his website www.lancearmstrong.com.

"L'Equipe is reporting that my 1999 samples were positive.

"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs.

"Unfortunately, the witch-hunt continues and the article is nothing short of tabloid journalism.

"The paper even admits in its own article that the science in question here is faulty and that I have no way to defend myself.

"They state 'There will therefore be no counter-exam nor regulatory prosecutions, in a strict sense, since defendant's rights cannot be respected'."

The 33-year-old American retired from racing after claiming an unprecedented seventh Tour victory last month.

L'Equipe under the page-one splash headline 'Armstrong's Lie', claimed that Armstrong's use of the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoeitin) had been revealed in tests conducted on frozen urine samples.

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The national doping testing laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry near Paris had found traces of EPO in six of Armstrong's urine samples, L'Equipe reported.

EPO can boost performance by 30 per cent.

Urine tests for EPO were not as advanced in 1999 as now, with more modern testing methods becoming common after the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2001 Tour de France, the paper reported.

The urine samples, taken in 1998 and 1999, were tested in 2004 by the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which itself fine-tuned the testing system, it reported.

No indication was given in the story for the delay in revealing the results, or about any preservation or safeguarding methods regarding the samples.

"Of course it cannot be regarded as a positive test in the strict regulatory sense," the newspaper reported, claiming that there was no question of sanctions as a result of the findings.

But the findings could have consequences, with the World Anti-Doping Agency studying possible legal channels, the paper reported.

L'Equipe said that the new revelations could also be raised with the US Anti-Doping Agency.

Armstrong tested positive for drugs only once in his career – during the 1999 Tour de France.

However he was cleared when his team, US Postal, produced a medical certificate showing he used a cream containing a banned corticosteroid to ease a pain on his saddle.

French suspicions were fuelled in 2001 when it emerged Armstrong had been working with Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari, who was suspected in Italy of distributing and administering banned products to a number of top athletes.

Armstrong admitted his "periodic collaboration" with Ferrari, who last year was handed a one-year suspended sentence for sports fraud, but he stands firm behind the fact that he has never tested positive for any banned drugs.

- with Agence France-Presse

[Unregistered]

How come Lance Armstrong didn't ask for a DNA test if he's sure to be not guilty of doping? Don't be afraid, truth always come over, and DNA tests required by anti-doping organizations (this is a scoop, you'll learn soon about it!) will definitely bring the truth...

[Danny]

Interesting, the IAAF have released their latest figures on positive samples (only 2 from 884). They have labelled this a resounding success. We do not have a drug riddled culture is just ringing in their ears.

But is this a sign of a win for the chemists working for drug cheats. And just an embarassment for the 2 who got caught, still living in the 80's.

Two from 884 test positive
August 30, 2005
FOXSPORTS

THE IAAF has announced that just two athletes tested positive for drugs, from 884 doping tests, at this month's world athletics championships in Helsinki.

In total, 884 tests were carried out both before and during the championships on 708 of the 1849 athletes taking part, the International Association of Athletics Federations said in a statement.

The two athletes who tested positive were India's Asian Games discus champion, Neelam Jaswant Singh (pemoline stimulants), and hammer thrower Vladyslav Piskunov of Ukraine (drostaline anabolic agent).

"I am pleased to see that the massive efforts carried out in Helsinki, with more testing than ever before, has resulted in just two positive cases," said IAAF President Lamine Diack.

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"With additional staff, resources and expertise in the anti-doping department, the IAAF is perfectly placed to use the information that it has gained in Helsinki and continue to take a leading role in the fight against doping in sport," he said.

Agence France-Presse

[Danny]

Lance 'probably' doped
From correspondents in Berlin
September 6, 2005
FOXSPORTS

WORLD Anti Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound has said it is "highly probable" that cyclist Lance Armstrong did test positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin).

Under pressure ... Armstrong has support at home in the US. Pic: Reuters
Armstrong, who retired after his seventh Tour de France victory last month, has been forced on the defensive since a damaging report by French newspaper L'Equipe detailed test results from the Tour de France in 1999.

The paper alleged Armstrong had tested positive six times for EPO in that year's race, his first success on the Tour. At the time the test for EPO did not exist and retroactive testing on the samples from 1999, and those of 1998, only began in 2004.

Pound, who has crossed swords with Armstrong in the past over doping issues concerning cyclists and WADA's role, has studied the results from the Paris laboratory from which was leaked the information on the 1999 samples pertaining to Armstrong.

"After studying all the evidence from this affair I'm of the opinion that there is evidence of doping," the WADA chief and lawyer told the internet edition of the Netzeitung overnight.

He added: "WADA did not receive details of the riders involved. All we got was the results of the test analyses from the French laboratory which don't include any names.

"The information concerning Lance Armstrong originates from L'Equipe newspaper."

L'Equipe's report on Armstrong has put a huge question mark over the man who dramatically recovered from cancer to come back and win the world's biggest bike race a record seven times – amassing a huge personal fortune in the process.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) is expected to make a statement in the coming days, but the allegations have split opinions worldwide.

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While many people in the United States feel Armstrong is part of a French conspiracy, there has been a steady stream of detractors who claim the 33-year-old, who has never tested positive, did use illicit means throughout his career.

On Sunday, Dutchman Ron Jongen, who worked with Armstrong's former team US Postal in 1999, claimed he witnessed "strange occurrences" during the 1999 Tour, claiming that three Spanish "doctors" discreetly visited the cycling team on a regular basis at their hotels.

The Dutchman even claims he overheard Armstrong's team manager Johan Bruyneel, who is still manager of the Discovery Channel team, talking about his riders' red blood cell (haematocrit) level before the 1999 Tour de France.

Using EPO, a naturally-occurring hormone which is also synthetically produced and has the advantage of increasing the volume of oxygen-rich red blood cells in the blood, also automatically raises the haematocrit level.

Last week a former anti-doping expert in Italy went so far as to say Armstrong would have had recourse to other illegal drugs and not just EPO.

Alessandro Donati, a specialist in the fight against doping in sport, suggested the performances of Armstrong suggests he used a range of banned substances, including anabolic steroids.

"There have been clear indications for years as to how Armstrong has been so successful," said Donati, who was formerly in charge of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) research centre.

"No one could achieve what Armstrong has achieved taking EPO on its own. EPO improves your breathing capacity. But you also need other substances, such as anabolics, testosterone and a lot of others."

Armstrong has vehemently denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs, and attacked WADA and Pound last week on prime time American television.

But Pound said he had every confidence in the French laboratory which tested the 1999 Tour de France samples, 12 of which tested positive and six of which allegedly belong to Armstrong.

"It is a very good laboratory. I have no reason whatsoever to think the samples have not been tested as they would be normally."

Pound added that he favoured DNA testing to determine whether the samples really did belong to Armstrong, who has poured scorn on the laboratory and its working methods.

And the Canadian said he is waiting impatiently for a response from UCI president Hein Verbruggen on the affair – especially as the results from 1999 came only a year after the hugely damaging Festina drugs scandal on the race in 1998.

"If it turns out that a number of big name riders tested positive only a year after the disaster of the Festina team in the 1998 Tour, then it clearly shows that cycling has a deep-rooted problem," said Pound.

"It also shows that the UCI has not resolved the problem (of doping)."

[injuryupdate]

If you are interested in the Armstrong details, read the end bit of this Sports Factor link. Also contains some good Ashes humour:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/sportsf/stories/s1459752.htm

[Slowman]

I find the focus on Lance somewhat selective by the French newspaper L'Equippe, there are many cyclists where it is "highly probable" that they have taken drugs. In fact I'd say it is "highly probable" that it is a well established and highly organised practice and has been for many years.