Doping: Time for Lance Amstrong to live strong

Lance Amstrong

This man has been through triumph, tragedy, transformation, and transcendance.  Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France between 1999-2005, fought against cancer and established a charity foundation which he calls LIVESTRONG.

He’s been accused of doping and the U.S Anti Doping Agency (USADA) banned Armstrong for life and said he should be stripped of his tour titles because of his involvement in ''the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.''

The USADA report has already cost Armstrong key sponsors, including Nike and Anheuser-Busch. Armstrong also stepped down on as chairman of the Livestrong, an organization he established "to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career," according to a statement posted to the group's website. Although Nike disowned the owner but the kit company has decided maintain the multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with Livestrong.

It should be noted for a fact that he was never found positive by the anti-doping laboratories and has consistently denied participating in any banned practices.

His Lawyer Tim Herman feels Amstrong is being witch-hunted and has labelled the report by USADA as one-sided.

One can not imagne how much he’s going to lose in terms of titles and money, if he’s eventually found guilty of the allegation. But if not, what would become USADA and those who testified against him?

Meanwhile the International Cycling Union received USADA's report last week and has until the end of the month to decide whether to accept the American agency's decision to strip Armstrong of his Tour titles or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Time shall tell.