Lance Armstrong | PROBABLE CAUSE

So the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, USADA, has ruled that Lance Armstrong participated in a team doping conspiracy by using banned substances and prohibited blood transfusions to gain a competitive edge.

It ordered that he receive a lifetime ban from the sport of cycling, and be disqualified from all results from Aug. 1, 1998, which includes the seven consecutive Tour de France titles Armstrong won from 1999 through 2005.

This ruling came despite the fact that Armstrong never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. A fact that the USADA deemed was “irrelevant.” The agency claimed that Armstrong and his co-conspirators on the U.S. Postal Service team “devised ways to cheat in ways that wouldn’t be detected.”

Five other team members were accused by the agency, three of them doctors and the other two a team trainer and a team manager. But none of the other cyclists who rode with Armstrong over the past 20 years have been charged, though at least ten are said to be alleged eyewitnesses. It appears that they may have received immunity for cooperating with the investigation. In all fairness Armstrong was given the opportunity to meet with USADA as well, however, he declined the offer.

Now I don’t know if Armstrong “cheated” or if he didn’t. I do know that federal prosecutors spent two years investigating him and then dropped the case. I know that the sport of cycling was rife with allegations of performance enhancing drugs at the time. But I also know that in a court of law, the prosecuting attorney needs to provide “evidence” of a crime. Putting a witness on the stand that claims a defendant committed a crime without providing any corroborating evidence usually means acquittal––or no trial at all.

Lance Armstrong chose to give up his fight with the USADA, something he isn’t accustomed to doing, whether battling another racer or fighting cancer. Though his cycling reputation may be forever tarnished, the Live Strong foundation he started has raised nearly $500 million in almost 15 years to fight cancer.

When all is said and done, this is a far more important and lasting legacy.

Cycling and its most famous race the Tour de France have long been embroiled in doping scandals. American Floyd Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour title after admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Landis has also accused many others in the sport of using drugs, including seven-time winner Lance Armstrong. Armstrong has maintained his innocence, though federal prosecutors continue to investigate the charges.

Major league baseball has been plagued in recent years with reports that potential Hall-of-Famers such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens used steroids to enhance their performance. A 2009 poll found that one in ten retired NFL players admitted to using now banned anabolic steroids while playing.

Doping charges have not been limited to the U.S. A major doping scandal is brewing in South Africa involving a former East German head coach who allegedly administered suspicious drugs to the country’s top sprinter.

Women have also been involved in doping scandals. Most recently, Nigeria’s Oludamola Osayomi, the women’s 100-meter champion in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine. A second Nigerian athlete, Samuel Okon, who finished sixth in the 110m hurdles, tested positive for the same drug. Nine Australian athletes also tested positive and are facing two-year suspensions. Sydney 2000 Olympic Games star Marion Jones has tearfully admitted that she used drugs.

Swimming has not been immune to drug scandals. French swimmer and two-time European champion Frederick Bousquet was recently handed a two-month ban following a positive test for the banned stimulant heptaminol.

Now comes the admission from Eddy Hellebuyck, the men’s winner of the 2003 Twin Cities Marathon, that he took injections of the banned substance EPO, which increases endurance. He was forty-two years old when he easily won the race, breaking away from a pack of runners at the twenty-three mile mark. He is the only Olympic-caliber American marathoner to have been found guilty of a major doping violation, according to Runner’s World.

Despite the expanded testing and repeated warnings, athletes in many sports continue to risk their careers and their health in order to maximize their performance. With the London Olympics less than two years away, it will be no surprise if even more athletes find themselves banned from competition for using performance-enhancing drugs.