Lance no more Livestrong head
18 Oct 2012 8:04 AM IST
Lance Armstrong said on Wednesday he is stepping down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity so the group can focus on its mission instead of the doping allegations surrounding the former cycling champion.
The move came a week after the US Anti-Doping Agency released a massive report detailing accusations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams when he won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005. The document’s purpose was to show why USADA has banned him from cycling for life and ordered 14 years of his career results erased - including those Tour titles. It contains sworn statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 former teammates.
Armstrong, who was not paid a salary as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, will remain on its 15-member board. His duties of leading the board will be turned over to vice-chairman Jeff Garvey, who was the founding chairman of the group in 1997.
‘This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship,’ Armstrong said in a statement.
Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane said the decision turns over the foundation’s big-picture strategic planning to Garvey. He will also assume some of the public appearances and meetings that Armstrong used to handle.
Armstrong strongly denies doping, but did not fight USADA accusations through arbitration, saying he thinks the process is unfair. Once Armstrong gave up the fight in August and the report came out, crisis management experts predicted the future of the foundation, known mainly by its Livestrong brand name, would be threatened. They said Armstrong should consider stepping down to keep the charity from getting dragged into a debate over doping.
NIKE CUTS TIES WITH ARMSTRONG
Nike broke all ties with disgraced cycling star Lance Armstrong over ‘seemingly insurmountable evidence’ of doping. The development came as International Cycling Union [UCI] faced growing pressure to reveal how the 41-year-old, seven-time Tour de France champion, had been able to escape detection for doping for so long. Sportswear giant Nike, a major sponsor that had stuck firmly by Armstrong for months in the face of doping allegations, issued a statement that accused him of years of deception. ‘Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him,’ it said. It added: ‘Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.’ Armstrong always maintained he did not use banned substances, but in August he chose not to contest charges put forward by the US Anti-doping Agency [USADA] that he was a serial drugs cheat. Last week the USADA, in a report supported by more than 1,000 pages of evidence, alleged that Armstrong was at the heart of what it called the biggest doping conspiracy in sports history. ‘Armstrong did not merely use performance-enhancing drugs. He supplied them to his teammates,’ it said.
The move came a week after the US Anti-Doping Agency released a massive report detailing accusations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams when he won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005. The document’s purpose was to show why USADA has banned him from cycling for life and ordered 14 years of his career results erased - including those Tour titles. It contains sworn statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 former teammates.
Armstrong, who was not paid a salary as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, will remain on its 15-member board. His duties of leading the board will be turned over to vice-chairman Jeff Garvey, who was the founding chairman of the group in 1997.
‘This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship,’ Armstrong said in a statement.
Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane said the decision turns over the foundation’s big-picture strategic planning to Garvey. He will also assume some of the public appearances and meetings that Armstrong used to handle.
Armstrong strongly denies doping, but did not fight USADA accusations through arbitration, saying he thinks the process is unfair. Once Armstrong gave up the fight in August and the report came out, crisis management experts predicted the future of the foundation, known mainly by its Livestrong brand name, would be threatened. They said Armstrong should consider stepping down to keep the charity from getting dragged into a debate over doping.
NIKE CUTS TIES WITH ARMSTRONG
Nike broke all ties with disgraced cycling star Lance Armstrong over ‘seemingly insurmountable evidence’ of doping. The development came as International Cycling Union [UCI] faced growing pressure to reveal how the 41-year-old, seven-time Tour de France champion, had been able to escape detection for doping for so long. Sportswear giant Nike, a major sponsor that had stuck firmly by Armstrong for months in the face of doping allegations, issued a statement that accused him of years of deception. ‘Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him,’ it said. It added: ‘Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.’ Armstrong always maintained he did not use banned substances, but in August he chose not to contest charges put forward by the US Anti-doping Agency [USADA] that he was a serial drugs cheat. Last week the USADA, in a report supported by more than 1,000 pages of evidence, alleged that Armstrong was at the heart of what it called the biggest doping conspiracy in sports history. ‘Armstrong did not merely use performance-enhancing drugs. He supplied them to his teammates,’ it said.
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