According to a recent post By Christine Brennan, of USA TODAY, Cyclist Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner—by choosing not to take his case to arbitration—has conceded guilt in his legal battle against charges brought forth by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
In a nutshell, the case alleges that Armstrong—during the time when he was winning races such as the Tour de France—had been engaged in a 13-year steroid spree.
Armstrong, this past Monday, lost his latest bid to have the charges overturned when a federal court in Austin, Texas dismissed his counter-lawsuit, saying that:
"Armstrong's due process challenges …are without merit … the court finds they are best resolved through the well-established system of international arbitration, by those with expertise in the field, rather than by the unilateral edict of a single nation's courts."
An angry Armstrong—who's also a cancer survivor, will now be stripped of any races he won during that period. However, seemingly wanting to have the last word, the cyclist fired back at his accusers with a statement of his own on Thursday night:
"The USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours,"stated Armstrong.
The news tonight suggests that, not unlike flogging a dead horse, it's likely that Armstrong's vocal and written protests will fall on deaf ears, and he will indeed lose all his awards and cycling titles. Especially now that he's given up his right to arbitration.
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