Lance and drugs

Another report in Le Monde about Lance admitting drugs... Will we believe this now? How is this different from the SF Chronicle's report on Barry/Balco? And no, that the US likes Lance isn't a defense:

"But Le Monde said former Armstrong teammate Frankie Andreu, and his wife, Betsy, recently testified under oath to a Dallas court that Armstrong admitted in 1996 to having taken the blood-boosting hormone EPO and other banned substances. The paper said Frankie Andreu used to be best friends with Armstrong."

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=2497768

 

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who said former Armstrong teammate Frankie Andreu, and his wife, Betsy, once heard Lance Armstrong admitted to doping. I guess it's pretty serious.

 

Thank you, Simone.

 

Some of those stories cited by 99-90 are troubling to me, but this latest story just doesn't pass my smell test.

 

And it's all from 1996.
It was the big story in the LA Times sports today too. I understand it's important to go after this as reporters - to find out the truth about Armstrong.
But is it really a huge story by itself that some lady says she overheard a conversation 10 years ago, before he ever won the Tour?
I mean the LA Times did a giant centerpiece today all based on that. It was like 35 inches.

 

"Le Monde said that two people TESTIFIED that LA admitted." That's easy. Find the testimony.

By the way, Greg LeMOND and the newspaper LE MONDE?
Coincidence?
I think not.

 

It's not just "some woman saying she overhead a conversation..." It's a wife, and apparently her husband, testifying to the fact that he did admit it.

They have, or so it appears...

Woman Implicated Armstrong
In testimony, the wife of a former teammate said the seven-time Tour de France winner admitted in 1996 to steroid use. Armstrong: It's 'untrue.'
By Alan Abrahamson, Times Staff Writer
June 24, 2006

Nearly 10 years ago, in an Indiana hospital, a few days after he had cancer surgery, his life at stake and his racing future suddenly very secondary, cyclist Lance Armstrong was allegedly asked by doctors if he had ever taken performance-enhancing substances.

"They began to ask him some questions, banal questions," testified Betsy Andreu, the wife of a former Armstrong teammate. "And all of a sudden, boom, 'Have you ever done any performance-enhancing drugs?' And he said, 'Yes.'

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"And they asked, 'What were they?' And Lance said, 'EPO, growth hormone, cortisone, steroid, testosterone.' "

Andreu's testimony, along with much more that raises questions about Armstrong's performance, can be found in thousands of pages of documents sparked by confidential litigation between the world's most famous cyclist and a company that was withholding a $5-million bonus he claimed after winning the 2004 Tour de France. The Times reviewed transcripts of depositions and hearings in the matter — all the testimony delivered under oath — along with a number of exhibits.

Armstrong testified, "The story is not true."

And on Friday, he reacted with anger to publication of portions of Andreu's testimony in the French newspaper Le Monde.



"The latest story, which alleges an admission of using performance-enhancing drugs in a hospital in 1996, is today as absurd and untrue as when it was first circulated years ago," Armstrong said in a statement. "It never happened."

In a settlement dated Feb. 8 of this year that was reached before the three-person arbitration panel made a ruling, Dallas-based SCA Promotions paid Armstrong and bike racing company Tailwind Sports $7.5 million — the $5-million bonus plus interest and lawyers' fees.

Armstrong's statement referred to the settlement, saying, "It's over. We won. They lost. I was yet again completely vindicated."

While the "final arbitration award" notes that the arbitrators signed after "having considered the evidence and testimony," the panel produced no findings of fact. Bob Hamman, SCA's president and chief executive, said in a telephone interview, "The panel did not rule on the case."

In October 1996, nearly three years before he won the Tour de France for the first of his record seven times, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain.

About three weeks later, he was operated on in Indianapolis, at Indiana University Medical Center.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-armstrong24jun24,0,6296264,full.story?coll=la-home-sports