International Olympic Committee : News

Cycling: US university rescinds Armstrong's degree

11/21/2012 9:48:10 PM

An American university has stripped disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong of an honorary degree after a unanimous vote by the school's trustees.

Tufts University, located in a suburb just outside Boston, Massachusetts, rescinded the doctor of humane letters bestowed on the former American icon six years ago.

The university said Wednesday that while respecting Armstrong's cancer-fighting efforts, the board concluded his "actions as an athlete are inconsistent with the values of the university."

Armstrong had his seven Tour de France titles taken away after the United States Anti-doping Agency disclosed evidence that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

gph/nr12

Cycling: NY City Marathon likely to expunge Armstrong results

10/24/2012 7:32:34 PM

Lance Armstrong's results in the New York City Marathon will likely be expunged, once organizers are sure any appeals of the disgraced cyclist's lifetime ban are complete.

"We anticipate that his results will come out of our records, but will wait for the appeals process to be completed before officially acting," the New York Road Runners said in a statement.

The event, sanctioned by national and international governing bodies for its sport, will honour the ban first imposed by the US Anti-Doping Agency and confirmed on Monday by the sport's global governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Armstrong's punishment for his role at the heart of what USADA called the biggest doping programme in sports history includes a lifetime ban and a loss of all results since August 1998.

That most famously includes his seven Tour de France titles, but now will apparently also include an 868th-place finish in 2hrs 59min 36sec at the 2006 New York City Marathon -- his first, as well as his result of 2007 when he finished in 2:46:43.

"We will stick to the rules and support USADA," the NYRR said. "Cycling said that Lance doesn't have a place in cycling and unfortunately he will not have a place in running."

Organizers said Armstrong's Livestrong cancer charity will "continue to be part of the marathon, and we will always remember the support and encouragement Lance gave to Grete Waitz through her courageous five year fight against this hideous illness."

Norwegian marathon legend Waitz, who died at the age of 57 last year, won nine New York marathons between 1978 and 1988.

bb/pi

USADA wants probe to restore cycling's name

10/22/2012 1:49:09 PM

The head of the US anti-doping body called Monday for a truth commission to uncover drug cheats in cycling, saying that punishing Lance Armstrong is not nearly enough to restore its credibility.

"It is essential that an independent and meaningful Truth and Reconciliation Commission be established so that the sport can fully unshackle itself from the past," USADA chairman Travis Tygart said in a statement.

It came after the International Cycling Union backed a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) decision to erase the rider's entire career after August 1998. UCI president Pat McQuaid called the scandal "the biggest crisis" the sport had ever faced.

The UCI said it would strip Armstrong of virtually every result he had achieved.

The month the US body released a devastating dossier on Armstrong, detailing over 202 pages and with more than 1,000 pages of supporting testimony how he was at the heart of the biggest doping programme in the history of sport.

In his statement Monday, Tygart said acting against Armstrong is not enough.

"There are many more details of doping that are hidden, many more doping doctors, and corrupt team directors and the omerta has not yet been fully broken," he said.

Tygart said punishing Armstrong and riders who came forward to talk about his doping activities cannot be seen as "penance for an era of pervasive doping."

"There must be more action to combat the system that took over the sport," Tygart said. "Only an independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission can fully start cycling on the path toward true reform and provide hope for a complete break from the past."

dw/mdl

Cycling: Armstrong admits 'difficult' times as UCI readies response

10/20/2012 12:33:18 PM

Lance Armstrong has admitted to "difficult" times since the release of a report which accused the shamed cyclist of being at the heart of the most sophisticated doping programme ever seen in sport.

Making his first public remarks since the release of US Anti-Doping Agency's damning report, Armstrong did not refer directly to the scandal, saying: "It's been a difficult couple of weeks for me and my family, my friends and this foundation.

"We will not be deterred. We will move forward."

The 41-year-old American made his comments to 1,500 guests at a gala fundraiser for cancer charity Livestrong, which he founded 15 years ago after fighting testicular cancer.

But on Wednesday he stepped down as chairman of Livestrong in an effort to protect the foundation from the scandal swirling around him.

That was the same day that corporate sponsors, including sportswear giant Nike, dropped him in the uproar over the USADA report, which cites more than two dozen witnesses including some former team-mates and accuses Armstrong of being at the heart of sport's "most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme".

World cycling's governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI) will respond to the report on Monday, and whether it backs USADA's demand that Armstrong be banned for life and stripped of the seven Tour de France titles that made him a sports icon.

UCI president Pat McQuaid will also come under scrutiny for his handling of doping issues in cycling.

Anne Gripper, who ran UCI's anti-doping arm from 2006 to early 2010, told The Age newspaper in Australia that the UCI should have handled things better.

The USADA report, Gripper said, showed "not so much that he (Armstrong) was a doping cheat - I think everybody accepts that just about all cyclists were doing it - but the way he orchestrated that programme and, more importantly, the bullying (and) the tactics used to influence the behaviour and choices of young impressionable riders".

Gripper also accused Armstong of telling "the sport how to administer its rules", in reference to the UCI waiving a 13-day window to allow the Texan to race the 2009 Tour Down Under.

"I have always said that Armstrong's influence was a danger in the sport," Gripper told The Age. "He was allowed to ride in the 2009 Tour Down Under. He shouldn't have been. Once again, for Lance, special consideration was provided."

Gripper added: "The UCI may have failed to take some actions that we should have taken at the time but since 2006 we have been really committed to this issue."

Asked if she felt McQuaid faced a limited future at the UCI, Gripper said: "I don't know - I know his commitment to this was very strong while I was there. It may have wavered a bit.

"I heard Pat say the other night, 'We test and test and test as much as we can and send all the samples to the labs and that's all we can do'.

"Well, it's not, Pat, there's lots more that can be done.

"It's not just about testing because we know in many ways testing is the most ineffective way of eliminating doping ... There are so many more things the UCI can do.

"The issue for the UCI is communication. It is time to stand up and acknowledge some of the past."

Armstrong's ex-wife Kristin -- accused in the USADA report of being complicit in her former husband's doping, implied in her latest blog for runnersworld.com that she had kept her silence for the sake of her family that includes three children by Lance.

"I know what truth is. I know my past. Not telling or selling my tales to the press is my choice - one that I made primarily for my children," she said.

"And there are many things that I am not free to discuss because I am constrained by legal principles like marital privilege, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

"To the world, Lance may be a source of admiration or suspicion, but to me he is simply my wasband (former husband) and the father of my children. His choices were, and are, his. And mine are mine. And they haven't always been pretty."

Back in Texas, Lance Armstrong, now an outcast in cycling, said it was imperative that the Livestrong foundation continue to fulfill its aims.

"The mission absolutely must go on," he said, as Livestrong confirmed that donations continued to flow in, with Friday's event -- attended by Hollywood heavyweights Robin Williams and Sean Penn -- raising $2.5 million.

Early Sunday morning, Armstrong is expected to address nearly 4,000 cyclists before the start of the Livestrong Challenge, an annual fundraising race that starts in the heart of Austin.

burs/lp12/yad

Cycling: Armstrong admits 'difficult' times as UCI readies response

10/20/2012 12:10:38 PM

Lance Armstrong has admitted to "difficult" times since the release of a report which accused the shamed cyclist of being at the heart of the most sophisticated doping programme ever seen in sport.

Making his first public remarks since the release of US Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) damning report, Armstrong did not refer directly to the scandal, saying: "It's been a difficult couple of weeks for me and my family, my friends and this foundation.