(Originally published in the July 1 to 7, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---
a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---
by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)
IN a move that could cost him his seven Tour de France titles, Lance Armstrong is now facing formal doping charges from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency or USADA --- the nation's governing body for sports doping.
In a 15-page letter dated June 12 to Armstrong and others, the USADA said that it had the cyclist's blood samples from 2009 and 2010 and that they were consistent with "blood manipulation."
Armstrong is accused of using the blood booster erythropoietin or EPO, blood transfusions, a human growth hormone, testosterone and steroids. Such doping would have made him a stronger and faster racer. He and his lawyer have vehemently denied that the seven-time Tour winner has ever participated in doping.
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis or red blood cell production. It is a cytokine (protein signaling molecule) for erythrocyte (red blood cell) precursors in the bone marrow. Also called hematopoietin or hemopoietin, it is produced by interstitial fibroblasts in the kidney in close association with peritubular capillary and tubular epithelial cells. It is also produced in perisinusoidal cells in the liver. While liver production predominates in the fetal and perinatal period, renal production is predominant during adulthood. Erythropoietin is the hormone that regulates red blood cell production. It also has other known biological functions. For example, erythropoietin plays an important role in the brain's response to neuronal injury. EPO is also involved in the wound healing process.
When exogenous EPO is used as a performance-enhancing drug, it is classified as an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA). Exogenous EPO can often be detected in blood, due to slight difference from the endogenous protein, for example in features of post-translational modification.
The letter also said Armstrong and five others --- including three doctors and a trainer --- had been involved in a team-wide doping program from 1998 to 2011 and that the USADA had "witnesses to the conduct."
USADA said the charges would come by the start of the Tour de France (which started last June 30) to beat an eight-year statute of limitations.
Sources also said that they believed they had extenuating circumstances that went back earlier than eight years. They also said that federal investigators, who ended a two-year criminal probe against the cyclist in February, had shared evidence with the USADA.
In a statement, Armstrong called the USADA's allegations “baseless” and “motivated by spite”.
“I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one,” Armstrong said as quoted by ABC News.
“This is the product of malice and an unhealthy obsession with Lance. The more tests that he passes the more they seem to believe he is guilty,” said Armstrong's lawyer Bob Luskin.
“They've made a wicked bargain with other riders, telling them that they will not be charged if they implicate Lance and they will be banned if they don't. Nothing good or honest or fair or truthful can come out of this process. Lance hasn't ever doped and his innocence was supported by more than 600 successful drug tests,” Luskin added.
“The charges are new in the sense they have just been filed, but they are the same old charges from the same old people,” Luskin said.
Luskin said that while the USADA could not bring criminal charges, it had the authority to regulate sports that agree to be governed by it. The agency has the ability to strip Armstrong of his bike title and the right to ban him from participaton in triathlons.
In February, a federal investigation against the cyclist did not result in his indictment. Doping is not a crime, but investigators could have charged him with money laundering and conspiracy to hide any use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Sources said that while the investigation had proved that Armstrong had doped, the U.S. attorney did not believe there was enough evidence on the other allegations.
The investigation included several teammates --- including Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis --- who said that they'd seen Armstrong use a variety of performance-enhancing drugs when they raced.
“He took what we all took,” ABC News quoted Hamilton as telling CBS “60 Minutes” in 2011. “There's really no difference between Lance Armstrong and the rest; there was EPO, there was testosterone and I did see a blood transfusion.”
In October 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed as having testicular cancer with a tumor that had metastasized to his brain and lungs. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor.
He went on to win the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005 with a total 22 individual stage wins and is the only person to win it seven times having broken the previous record of five wins shared by Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil.
In 1999, he was named the ABC Wide World of Sports’ Athlete of the Year. In 2000 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports. In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the years 2002 to 2005. He received ESPN’s ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003.
Armstrong announced his retirement from racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France but returned to competitive cycling in January 2009 and finished third in the 2009 Tour de France.
He confirmed he had retired from competitive cycling for good on February 16, 2011.*
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