Lance Armstrong refuses to fight drug charges pressed by USADA, refuses to participate in the process

Lance Armstrong has official stated that he will not fight against the charges brought forth by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. USADA recently accused Armstrong on the usage of performance-enhancing drugs.

The 7-time Tour de France champion has said in a statement that he is not fighting on the charges because of the expected biased proceedings that will follow.

“If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance,” Armstrong said in a statement. “But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair.”

Furthermore, he took a clear stance on USADA’s motion on stripping the cyclist off his seven titles. He said that only International Cycling Union has such authority and ICU is not following USADA’s suit.

Armstrong has intelligently made a move by refusing to participate in proceedings at USADA and the threat by the governing body to take his titles back from him in addition to a life-long ban on participation in the sport. This move will certainly save him the embarrassment if he were guilty as charged. Moreover, the USADA’s move of airing all the evidence that it has gathered against him will be halted as well.

For Armstrong, now that he has retired from the sport, the main concern is the reputation of his non-profit, Lance Armstrong Foundation. The foundation opened a soccer stadium with Major League Soccer franchise Sporting Kansas City last year, named LIVESTRONG Sporting Park.

Another of the growing concerns due to this drug-use scandal is the sponsorship from companies like Nike. However, Nike has stated in a recent statement that it will continue to support Armstrong and his NGO in fighting cancer.

“Lance has stated his innocence and has been unwavering on this position,” the company said. “Nike plans to continue to support Lance and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a foundation that Lance created to serve cancer survivors.”

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Aug 24 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.