LANCE ARMSTRONG (2)

"Was he doped?", I asked back in August, and answered my own question in the affirmative. It seems that he was, with knobs on. USADA has just published a 1,000-page report, the basis for its reasoned decision that Armstrong was doped and should be given a lifetime ban.

The evidence includes affidavits from around a dozen former teammates, all sworn under oath, analyses from doping laboratories, and copies of bank payments, with Armstrong having paid the now discredited Doctor Ferrari alone more than US$1 million. Armstrong was apparently not just a sportsman who took performance-enhancing drugs, but also encouraged and even bullied his teammates to do exactly the same. Either they agreed, or they were out, a difficult dilemna for a young sportsman.

Armstrong himself continues to protest his innocence, and I suspect that he always will. What is more surprising is the speed with which Nike, a major sports sponsor and a great supporter of Armstrong's Livestrong anti-cancer charity, came out in his defence. His reputation is rapidly fraying, and that will inevitably have an effect on Nike, if they continue to support him. It's a sad business, but it seems increasingly clear that the man with one of the greatest ever sporting records didn't in fact do it on his own.

PS Update on 17 October. Nike have just ended Armstrong's contract with them.

Walter Blotscher