SPEAK OUT: Are Lance Armstrong Doping Charges Unfair?
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman and his brother weigh in.
Is there an unfair crusade going on against the famed cyclist and former cancer patient Lance Armstrong, who is facing renewed allegations of doping?
The debate is flowing across the Internet and on Wednesday, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, whose brother, Doug Ulman, is the CEO of Armstrong's cancer charity Livestrong, weighed in from his Facebook page.
“Let's focus on what matters most for our nation & not continue to chase a man who has done more in the fight against cancer than anyone else,” Ken Ulman posted to his public Facebook page on Wednesday night.
Armstrong, 40, has denied allegations of using performance enhancing drugs and participating in a “doping conspiracy.” He was formally charged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and faces losing his victories as a seven-time Tour de France winner, according to an Associated Press story on the Huffington Post.
On his Twitter page, Armstrong called the agency’s move a “witch hunt.”
“I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one,” Armstrong said in a statement.
Armstrong is also a testicular cancer survivor who formed the Lance Armstrong Foundation to help others struggling with cancer.
Doug Ulman is a three-time cancer survivor and is the president and CEO of Livestrong, Armstrong's cancer charity.
He and his family also founded the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, a Columbia-based nonprofit that helps young adults affected by cancer and their families.
The USADA is accusing Armstrong of “using and promoting the use of the blood booster EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, human growth hormone and anti-inflammatory steroids,” according to a copy of an agency letter obtained by the Associated Press.
Tell us below: What do you think of the allegations against Armstrong?
ULRICH SNYDER
4:35 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
I never liked usada. Please drop all charges against lance armstrong PERIOD ! He's my favorite bicyclist. LEAVE HIM ALONE...
H.R. Pufnstuf
5:01 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Ken Ulman's facebook message is shockingly stupid. The only people chasing Armstrong for doping is the non-governmental USADA, whose job it is, according to the customs of the competitive cycling industry, to CHASE PEOPLE FOR DOPING.
The fact that Armstrong has raised money to fight cancer is wholly irrelevant to the question of keeping the cycling industry free of doping. If Ken's brother wasn't employed by the LA Foundation, Ken wouldn't speak one word about this.
ECLibertarian
9:15 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
Anyone that is a contender at an *international* level of sports competition is using some sort of "performance enhancer", whether they admit it or not. Whether it be tailor made nutritional supplements and diet plans, designer steroids, growth hormone, sleeping in altitude chambers, daily massages for muscle recovery or whatever they're doing that hasn't caught on to the public eye yet...
These athletes are genetically speaking "freaks of nature" to begin with - they are the cream of the crop and the performance enhancers don't take them from zero to hero. They are already at the top and looking for that 1-5% edge over the competition.
And when the competition is using all the tricks in the bag - you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to compete.
Charles Schelle
9:43 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
This is certainly worth a read again considering Lance Armstrong's admission tonight with Oprah.