For much of the second phase of his career, American cyclist Lance Armstrong faced constant allegations of doping, including doping at the Tour de France and in the Lance Armstrong doping case. Armstrong vehemently denied allegations of using performance enhancing drugs for 13 years, until a confession during a broadcast interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013, when he finally admitted to all his cheating in sports, stating, "I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times". Lance Armstrong Admits to Doping, 'One Big Lie'. Wall Street Journal. Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connell. Updated Jan. 18, 2013 Lance Armstrong: 'I View This Situation As One Big Lie I Repeated A Lot Of Times'. CBS New York, January 17, 2013.UPI. Lance Armstrong: 'One big lie'. January 17, 2013Livestrong or Lie Hard: A Pentadic Analysis of Deception and Reputation Management in 'The Armstrong Lie'. Harper D Anderson. Brigham Young University, 2017.
Background
Lance Armstrong had been criticized for his disagreements with outspoken opponents of doping, such as sports journalist Paul Kimmage and cyclist Christophe Bassons. Bassons wrote a number of articles for a French newspaper during the 1999 Tour de France which made references to doping in the peloton. Subsequently, Armstrong started a confrontation during that Tour where he rode up alongside Bassons on the Alpe d'Huez stage to, according to Bassons, tell him "it was a mistake to speak out the way I do and [Armstrong] asked why I was doing it. I told him that I'm thinking of the next generation of riders. Then he said, 'Why don't you leave, then?'" Armstrong later confirmed Bassons' story in an interview with the French television station TF1, saying, "His accusations aren't good for cycling, for his team, for me, for anybody. If he thinks cycling works like that, he's wrong and he would be better off going home."Cited, L'Équipe, July 17, 1999.
Kimmage, a professional cyclist in the 1980s, referred to Armstrong as a "cancer in cycling". He also asked Armstrong questions in relation to his "admiration for dopers" at a press conference at the Tour of California in 2009, provoking a scathing reaction from Armstrong. This spat continued and is exemplified by Kimmage's articles in the British newspaper The Sunday Times. David Walsh, a Sunday Times reporter referred to by Armstrong as a "little troll", revealed in a 2001 story that Armstrong had ties to controversial Italian doctor Michele Ferrari. Two years later, Walsh's book L.A. Confidentiel alleged, based on testimony by Armstrong's former masseuse Emma O'Reilly, that clandestine trips were made to pick up and deliver doping products to Armstrong's team.
Until his 2013 admission, Armstrong continually denied using illegal performance-enhancing drugs and described himself as the most tested athlete in the world. However, a 1999 urine sample showed traces of corticosteroid; a medical certificate showed he used an approved cream for saddle sores which contained the substance. O'Reilly claimed that team officials conspired with a compliant doctor to falsify Armstrong's prescription, and that Armstrong never had the condition. She also claimed that, on other occasions, she was asked to dispose of used syringes for Armstrong and pick up strange parcels for the team.
From his return to cycling in the fall of 2008 through March 2009, Armstrong claimed that he submitted to twenty-four unannounced drug tests by various anti-doping authorities. All of the tests were negative for performance-enhancing drugs.
U.S. federal prosecutors pursued allegations of doping by Armstrong from 2010–2012. The effort convened a grand jury to investigate doping charges, including: taking statements under oath from Armstrong's former team members and other associates; met with officials from France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy; and requested samples from the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD). The investigation was led by Jeff Novitzky, an investigator from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who also investigated suspicions of steroid use by baseball players Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. The probe was terminated on February 3, 2012 with no charges filed.
Specific allegations
1995–2005 According to former cyclist Stephen Swart, Armstrong first began using performance-enhancing drugs during his time with the Motorola cycling team in the mid-1990s, and actively encouraged his teammates to do the same. "He was the instigator," Swart told Sports Illustrated. "It was his words that pushed us toward doing it." Swart also admitted to doping.
Public accusations of doping against Armstrong were made as early as the 1999 Tour de France. Specifically, many European papers contended his victory in Stage 9, where he seemingly ascended the Alps with almost no difficulty, could not have been possible through natural means. Armstrong adamantly denied this, and the American press generally supported him. Armstrong contended, among other things, that it would have made no sense for him to dope since he lived in France, which has long had some of the strictest anti-doping laws in the world, for most of the year.
Armstrong was criticized for working with Ferrari, who later claimed that the two were introduced by Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx in 1995. American cyclist Greg LeMond described himself as "devastated" on hearing of them working together, while Tour organizer Jean-Marie Leblanc said, "I am not happy the two names are mixed." Following Ferrari's later-overturned conviction for "sporting fraud" and "abuse of the medical profession", Armstrong claimed to have suspended his professional relationship with him, saying that he had "zero tolerance for anyone convicted of using or facilitating the use of performance-enhancing drugs" and denying that Ferrari had ever "suggested, prescribed or provided me with any performance-enhancing drugs."
Ferrari was later absolved of all sporting fraud charges by an Italian appeals court, as well as charges of abusing his medical license to write prescriptions. The court stated that it overturned his conviction "because the facts do not exist" to support the charges. Ferrari, however, is still banned from practicing medicine with cyclists by the Italian Cycling Federation. According to Italian authorities, Armstrong met with Ferrari as recently as 2010 in a country outside of Italy.
In 2004, Walsh and fellow reporter Pierre Ballester published a French-language book alleging Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs, entitled L. A. Confidentiel – Les secrets de Lance Armstrong. On top of O'Reilly's aforementioned allegations, the book also contained Stephen Swart's allegation of doping by Armstrong and others on the Motorola team; this claim was denied by other team members.
Allegations in the book were reprinted in The Sunday Times in a story by deputy sports editor Alan English in June 2004. Armstrong sued for libel, and the paper settled out of court after a High Court judge in a pre-trial ruling stated that the article "meant accusation of guilt and not simply reasonable grounds to suspect." The newspaper's lawyers stated, "The Sunday Times has confirmed to Mr. Armstrong that it never intended to accuse him of being guilty of taking any performance-enhancing drugs and sincerely apologized for any such impression." Ballester and Walsh subsequently published L.A. Official and Le Sale Tour (The Dirty Trick), further pressing their claims that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
On March 31, 2005, Mike Anderson, Armstrong's personal assistant of two years, filed a brief in Travis County District Court in Texas, as part of a legal battle following his termination in November 2004. In the brief, Anderson claimed that he discovered a box of androstenone while cleaning a bathroom in Armstrong's apartment in Girona, Spain. Androstenone is not a banned substance, and Anderson stated in a subsequent deposition that he had no direct knowledge of Armstrong using such substances. Armstrong denied the claim and issued a counter-suit. The two men reached an out-of-court settlement in November 2005; the terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
2006–2008 In June 2006, the French newspaper Le Monde reported claims by Frankie and Betsy Andreu during a deposition that Armstrong had admitted using performance-enhancing drugs to his physician just after brain surgery in 1996. The Andreus' testimony was related to litigation between Armstrong and SCA Promotions, a Dallas-based insurer who balked at paying a US$5 million bonus for Armstrong's sixth Tour victory due to the claims raised in L.A. Confidentiel. The suit was settled out of court, with SCA paying Armstrong and Tailwind Sports US$7.5 million, to cover the bonus plus interest and lawyers' fees. Betsy Andreu's testimony stated, "And so the doctor asked him a few questions, not many, and then one of the questions he asked was, 'Have you ever used any performance-enhancing drugs?' And Lance said yes. And the doctor asked, 'What were they?' And Lance said, 'Growth hormone, cortisone, EPO, steroids and testosterone.'"
Armstrong suggested Betsy may have been confused by possible mention of his post-operative treatment, which included steroids and EPO that are taken to counteract the side effects of intensive chemotherapy. The Andreus' allegation was not supported by the eight other people present, including Armstrong's doctor Craig Nichols, or his medical history. According to LeMond, he had recorded a conversation,recorded conversation, MP3 file transcribed for review by NPR, in which Armstrong's contact at Oakley, Inc., Stephanie McIlvain, corroborated Betsy's account. However, McIlvain contradicted LeMond's allegations and denied under oath that the incident ever occurred.
In July 2006, the Los Angeles Times published a story on the allegations raised in the SCA case. The report cited evidence at the trial, including the results of an AFLD test and an analysis of these results by an expert witness. According to the Times, Australian researcher Michael Ashenden testified that Armstrong's levels rose and fell, consistent with a series of injections during the 1999 Tour. Ashenden, a paid expert retained by SCA Promotions, told arbitrators the results painted a "compelling picture" that the world's most famous cyclist "used EPO in the '99 Tour."
SCA president Bob Hamman knew his chances of winning the suit were slim, since the language in SCA's contract with Armstrong stipulated that the money had to be paid. However, he believed that the testimony and evidence would prove that Armstrong had doped, and would be enough to trigger an investigation by sporting authorities. Hamman's hunch proved right; before the Times ran its story on the case, USADA general counsel Travis Tygart contacted Hamman and asked to see the evidence he'd gleaned.
2009–2011 Ashenden's findings were disputed by the Vrijman report, which pointed to procedural and privacy issues in dismissing the AFLD test results. The Times article also provided information on testimony given by Swart, the Andreus, and an instant messaging conversation between Frankie and Jonathan Vaughters regarding blood-doping in the peloton. Vaughters signed a statement disavowing the comments and stating he had "no personal knowledge that any team in the Tour de France, including Armstrong's Discovery team in 2005, engaged in any prohibited conduct whatsoever." Frankie signed a statement affirming the conversation took place as indicated on the instant messaging logs submitted to the court. The SCA trial was settled out of court, and while no verdict or finding of facts was rendered, Armstrong regarded the outcome as proof that the doping allegations were baseless.