Doping and Match Fixing: Has Tennis Crossed the Line?

News of professional tennis player Maria Sharapova failing a drug test at the Australian Open has spread rapidly, especially since tennis is generally considered a more sophisticated sport, and people don’t usually think of tennis players when they think about athletes that are doping (see the video below of the press conference where Sharapova made the announcement). While Sharapova says that the drug she was taking was a medicine given to her for health reasons that was only just recently banned by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), she still takes responsibility for taking it after it became a banned substance. Additionally, this situation has brought to light other instances of potential fraud in professional tennis, including doping and fixing matches.

The Hospital Room Incident: Did Lance Armstrong Pay Off Doctors to Remain Silent?

While it has been several months since we posted about the Lance Armstrong investigation (see this link for previous posts), the case against Armstrong continues to grow. A recent article in the Daily Camera discusses what is known as “The Hospital Room Incident.” This article discusses why the U.S. Government subpoenaed his medical records from the Indiana University School of Medicine. Allegations are that Armstrong paid off his doctor to remain silent through a donation to his medical school.

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Are Pro Athletes Being Harassed?

I read on a regular basis, sometimes from comments left on this blog, that the government shouldn't be harassing Lance Armstrong, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds or other pro athletes for using performance enhancing drugs or for lying to Congress. Others have said that the investigations are modern-day witch hunts. This editorial from the Rockland County Times expresses a well-reasoned response to that opinion.

A Fraudster Cyclist with a Defective Moral Compass

If you know Michael Rasmussen's story, you know that he was leading the Tour de France in 2007 when he got kicked out of the race and fired by his team. Why? Because he was caught breaking the rules with respect to doping. So what is he doing now? He's suing his former team because they fired him! I'm totally amazed by this! Here is what we know...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Odds and Ends

In today's news, various sources are reporting that Lance's lawyers are demanding an on-air apology from 60 Minutes. I personally am not holding my breath...

Well, aside from that news, I have had questions about the Lance Armstrong investigation asked to me from some friends and thought I'd document my thoughts to these questions. Some of you may have had similar questions or may hear similar questions as the public starts hearing more about the investigation. For example, a friend in my neighborhood asked me "How could he be guilty when he was tested so many times?" My response...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Bill Strickland Talks Again

CBS News is reporting that Bill Strickland, editor of Bicycling Magazine was on "The Early Show" today and commented on the latest news about Lance Armstrong. According to the report Strickland said that " he has evidence that Armstrong had used drugs."

We have known since April that Strickland believes Lance doped. However, in this report it appears that Strickland has evidence to support his belief that he has not before revealed. From the report, it sounds like Strickland discovered evidence of Lance's alleged failed test in the Tour of Switzerland. In particular, it's being reported that Strickland said the following:

(Strickland) told co-anchor Chris Wragge, "I wrote a story in May for Bicycling ... that said I thought he was guilty, I knew he had doped. In the course of investigating around him, I finally found the conviction. So I've known for awhile. This is just inevitable, I think."

This statement was made in the context of the claim first made by Floyd Landis and later by Tyler Hamilton that Lance failed a doping test in the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. Both Landis and Hamilton claim that Lance was able to hide that test through cooperation with the UCI and the Swiss drug lab that found the result.

Hopefully, more of what Strickland was referring to will come out soon...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: What I Learned from 60 Minutes

I watched three 60 Minutes videos about the Lance Armstrong investigation, including a segment on 60 Minutes Overtime. In these videos, Tyler Hamilton states that the claims he made on 60 Minutes are what he told the Grand Jury that is investigating Lance Armstrong for his use of performance enhancing drugs while racing on the U.S. Postal Team. Here are a few claims made by Tyler and other takeaways from the videos:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: What Does Barry Bonds Say About It?

Actually, I don't know that Barry Bonds has said anything about Lance Armstrong's doping/fraud investigation. In fact, he tried not to say much in his testimony and that's what the jury didn't like about him. However, the Bonds case may have something to say about what will happen in Lance's case. I'll get back to that in a minute.

If you haven't heard, the Bonds trial is over and the jury found him guilty of one count of obstruction of justice and could not come to a unanimous decision about the other charges so the judge threw them out. Bonds could serve up to ten years for this one charge. However, other scenarios are pretty likely. For example...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: What the SI Article Tells Us

Now that the full version of the SI article is out, it looks like we had the most significant news in yesterday's synopsis. Although much of what SI wrote about is old news, they did give a lot of new details that we didn't have before. In addition, at least one new item from the article is a potential bomb shell for Lance in terms of the Novitzky investigation: the HemAssist issue. Here is why...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Sports Illustrated Story

Sports Illustrated (SI) posted on their website details of a story coming out tomorrow about Lance Armstrong. Although we will have to wait until the full story is released to get all the details, here is a short list of the significant allegations that SI reported today and that appear to be new:

Now this is a serious cycling ban!

VeloNation reported today that the Portuguese cycling federation handed out a record ban to a pro cyclist for multiple doping offenses. The federation insured that Pedro Lopes will not race again until he is 50! Here is a brief quote from the article:

Former Tour of Portugal stage winner Pedro Lopes has been handed a record ban by his national federation, and will be unable to compete as a rider for 15 years. The 35 year old has had multiple doping infringements and will be 50 years of age by the time he is eligible to race again.

I'd like to see more serious bans given to serious doping offenses. Two years is too little for someone who is caught deliberately injecting some PED into his or her body (e.g., EPO, CERA, HGH, etc.). Hopefully the pros would think twice before cheating if they knew that getting caught meant their career was over...

Lance Armstrong Investigation Appears to be Much Wider than I Imagined

An unnamed source who is said to have collaborated with the FDA in the past has told CyclingNews that Jeffrey Novitzky's investigation is probably not focused on individual dopers but, rather, on the suppliers of doping products to athletes. The source said that Novitzky's trip to Europe is an indication that the investigation is much bigger than just investigating Lance's doping and that Novitzky would not have travelled to Europe unless there was some compelling evidence that they are collecting.

This theory sounds very plausible to me. Remember, the investigation began with Rock Racing and looking into their use of, and presumably their supply of, doping products. Soon thereafter came Floyd Landis making allegations about systematic and widespread doping on Lance's team and in the peloton in general. Interestingly, the source speculates that the investigation may also be looking at the supply of not only approved drugs but experimental drugs. I've often wondered if the top athletes, such as Lance, may be able to obtain experimental drugs that are not even on the banned list or being tested for by WADA or other anti-doping agents. Here are some major quotes from CyclingNews:

More from the dopers from the Papp investigation

Last week I blogged about two individuals who were caught purchasing performance enhancing drugs after officials apparently obtained leads from Joe Papp's records. As in the past, the reaction we typically hear is some story about why they are innocent. We've heard it from numerous top American pro cyclists including Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis and even Lance Armstrong with the 2005 tests of his 1999 specimens showing EPO in his urine. More recently, Alberto Contador is claiming innocence too.

Now, since these guys were not caught with drug tests they can't use some conspiracy theory about the French labs having some reason to frame them or some Spanish farmer who put the drugs in their beef. Neither can they claim they took a supplement that had the drug and they weren't aware of it. Instead, they need a new story. Here it is:

WADA Rejects Contador's 'Contaminated Meat' Defense

The World Anti-Doping Agency has reportedly rejected Alberto Contador's claim that contaminated beef resulted in his failed drug test.  Via the Washington Post:

A Spanish newspaper says the World Anti-Doping Agency found no evidence to support Alberto Contador's claim that contaminated meat caused his positive test at the Tour de France.

El Pais says WADA went to the meathouse in Irun, Spain, that provided the meat that Contador contends led to the positive finding for clenbuterol.

The paper says WADA's own tests showed no signs of the banned drug in the meat.

The paper quotes a leaked WADA report as saying Contador's intake of clenbuterol "could not have come from possibly contaminated meat." It also ruled out asthma medication as a cause.

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Evidence in Europe

Jeff Novitzky's investigation of Lance Armstrong and doping in cycling has apparently moved to Europe to gather evidence. The NY Times and other news outlets are reporting that investigators are in France to collect evidence from the anti doping officials there. One interesting question will be whether a civil or criminal suit will allow evidence such as Armstrong's 1999 urine samples that were tested for EPO in 2005 to be admitted as evidence against Armstrong. While the samples were disregarded for purposes of sanctioning him because of a technicality in anti-doping rules, experts in anti-doping have said that this evidence shows there is no doubt that Armstrong doped (see this post for more information). If Novitzky proceeds first with a civil suit on behalf of the U.S. Government, then this 1999 evidence could help tip the scales such that a jury will conclude that a preponderance of evidence exists against Armstrong.

Another interesting question is whether Novitzky's investigation is gathering any samples from the European labs to have analyzed again. Today there are new tests that weren't available during the time period when Lance was racing for U.S. Postal so if Novitzky's team can get some of the specimens that Lance left behind and test them using new technology, it's possible that we could see evidence of blood doping, EPO or other doping agents that scientists can now detect.

Also, it will be interesting to see if the raid this week on Lance's former teammate, Yaroslav Popovych's Italian home, leads to evidence against Lance. ESPN reported that the police confiscated computers, phones and substances from Popo's home. If Popovych was purchasing drugs for the team or kept other records that could lead to doping, the investigators will probably find them and this could open up new sources of information to use against Lance. Right now we don't even know if the Popovych raid was associated with Novitzky's investigation but my guess is that it has something to do with it...

Contador Case Moves to Spain

It was reported today that the UCI turned Contador's case over to the Spanish federation to determine what, if any, penalty the Spaniard should face. Time will tell what this means for Contador. I doubt he will get the maximum two-year suspension so if he gets one year they will back date it to July and he could be racing next August. Some people are speculating that if the Spanish federation is too easy on Alberto then WADA could get involved.

Does anyone of you know what the potential outcomes of this case are? Could the Spanish federation decide Alberto ate a bad steak and tell him to be more careful where he buys his steak next time? Maybe give him a six month ban starting last July?

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Praise from Abroad

Jeffrey Novitzky's investigation into Lance Armstrong's alleged doping while racing for U.S. Postal is getting some praise from around the globe. A recent article said the following:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Grand Jury is Still Working

The LA Times is reporting that two anonymous sources have told them that "Yaroslav Popovych, a teammate of Lance Armstrong on the Discovery Channel, Astana and RadioShack squads, will appear Wednesday before a grand jury in Los Angeles." This is the first news I've heard about the investigation for some time.

Meanwhile, the NY Times is reporting that Floyd Landis and his former coach, Arnie Baker, are being tried in France for computer hacking. According to the article:

Doper Di Luca Shunned by the Tour of Italy

VeloNation is reporting that the promoter of the Tour of Italy is basically keeping Danilo Di Luca out of his race and off any pro teams that want to race in the Tour of Italy. Di Luca has been found doping twice at the Tour of Italy and the promoter wants nothing to do with him.

I wish more teams would pass this message on to doper cyclists. This promoter believes Di Luca is bad for his event because he is a fraud. The UCI needs to figure out that dopers are ruining pro cycling and do something serious about it. For example, they could start imposing the 4-year bans that they are authorized to impose. I would use these bans for marginal violations (when some ever so slight potential for doubt exists, as in the Contador case) and change the rules so if you're caught even one time in an obvious and indisputable case of doping you are banned for life. Di Luca should be out of cycling forever, in my opinion.

Some serious penalties just might clean things up! Until changes like this, I expect the UCI to slap Contador's hand and doping to be in the news for a long time...

New Finding: HGH Leads to Nose Growth

A new, double-blind, study shows that using HGH along with EPO injections and testosterone patches can, in extreme cases, lead to extensive nose growth. The study shows that when these drugs are used over a lengthy time period--say 15 years--the lateral nasal cartilage can, in the words of one author, "grow like a weed." Apparently, the "rapid and extensive" nose growth can come on quickly and often starts growing shortly after the person quits using the performance enhancing drugs.

The authors showed pictures of one of the participants in the study who had an excessively long nose caused by over 15 years of using every type of performance enhancing drug that he thought would benefit him. You can see the picture below.