Oprah: Armstrong admitted doping

[InigoMontoya]

Well I am definitely not an expert on this matter and on what is the cutting edge of PEDs. I can see were the elite athletes can have a staff of Doctors administering and monitoring for side effects and minimize the associated risks. I can also see when this is done on the cheap how things can go wrong with young HS and College athletes who want their shot at sports glory.

That’s generally the biggest issue I’ve heard. The fear that too many kids and high school athletes see what PEDs can do, and will emulate their hero’s for a shot at glory. At the college level, perhaps even more so, as someone who’s on the horizon of going pro… really has an understandable need to gain every edge available… besides, the pros do it…
So we’re left with this wink’wink approach, where we just don’t want to acknowledge it. But in all honesty, high school and college kids are already well aware of the stuff. Even in the nineties when I was in high school, a lot of kids were doing a number of PED’s, just not always obtaining them from the most reliable sources. As of today, it doesn’t take a kid with connections, to figure out he can essentially order it straight from overseas pharmacies with more lax regulations.

It’s absolutely staggering how advanced some of the underground labs are at building developing new PED’s which can generally avoid detection. Throughout much of the above era in sports, the underground labs were so far ahead of the curve that people were essentially able to cheat with impunity.

 

[InigoMontoya]

So, a person takes EPO like Lance and some cyclists and you are under a Doctor’s supervision, it should be safe.

If one takes a smorgasbord mix of steroids you get through other means, it could be dangerous.

For the record, EPO treats cancer, I’m not in that field but from what I understand, Armstrong could have received some of that as a cancer patient.

It seems Lance fessed up to be able to start participating in Triathlons again, I do see (the) Donald Trump saying “shouldn’t have put the interview on tape” and realistically, Lance will be wrestling with this for years to come now.

That’s the biggest issue, since there are entire forums online about how to use different PEDs, people try and figure it out themselves… and that can often lead to very bad results.

That being said, doctors are human, and it’s not particularly difficult to find one willing to help you with managing your PED’s. It doesn’t even imply that they’re bad doctors IMO either. Especially if people use the “suppose I did this or that” approach…

Lance does really want to get into triathlons, and on most of the cycling sites, that’s generally viewed as the main reason he’s going through with this all now. Yeah, he’s going to face years of legal drama over reverse lawsuits… but at this point, he’s made so much he can afford to lose vast sums and not really be harmed.

 

[TimeEntrance]

msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/oprah-winfrey-confirms-lance-armstrong-admitted-doping-011513

I’m disgusted. I used to admire this guy. Now it comes out that he’s a disgusting cheater? Just goes to show how stupid I am.

Never hold up an athlete as a hero. None of them are. The real heroes are our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Athletes aren’t worthy of being in the same room as them.

Torch, don’t feel too bad. We all at some point come to find out that someone we admired, possibly as a great hero, has more human flaws and vulnerabilities than we thought or knew of.

I’m not upset with Armstrong. He was not a “hero” of mine but I was not into cycling.

I suspect “doing” is pretty widespread throughout that level of cycling.

When I was in the Marine Corps I used steroids for a brief time. Probably about 25% of the company I was at was using it. I never denied using it I just would never admit it because it could get you in trouble in the military and kicked out.

Unlike crack cocaine the world of steroid use in the military or sports is more quietly kept thing that you have to be “cliqued in” to be in the “know.”

You still have to train. I’ve got little problem with it. I think the prohibitions against it are stupid and possibly even a little hypocritical.

You might be interested in the documentary about steroids produced by an All-American male: youtube.com/watch?v=ApmX8Q0vqKI

 

[TimeEntrance]

I think a lot of the others are “dopers” too… He’s still the best cyclist among all the other dopers or non.

The media gives the impression that if you are 3 feet tall and “dope”–especially with steroids–you can do superhuman things. It’s not true. You are still human and must train smartly and consistently.

“It’s not fair” thing does not move me. Being born with certain genetic traits is not “fair.”

Notice how few athletes are vegetarians. Why isn’t eating meat and taking all the modern day supplements “cheating.” Some of these supplements today are near-steroidal. I’m amazed at what some of this stuff–created in laboratories I presume–can do to the human body. People are transforming their in 2 years what used to take committed people 10 years to do.

 

[TimeEntrance]

Even for those who are in another profession, there are crazy “weekend warrior” type events and training. The idea of sport as recreation and a way to be healthy - as opposed to crammed full of protein powders, steriods, and worse - is long gone.

The healthiest I ever felt was when I was on 3cc’s of Mexican Sten every other day. And that’s a lot–especially for a first time user.

I also ate the best then and avoided all greasy food and I drank no alcohol. I was scared to death of messing up my kidneys and was told that’s the kind of diet I needed to be on while injecting steroids (the hardest steroids on the kidneys are actually the pills–much worse on your kidneys than the injectables) to better protect my kidneys.

When I was on that stuff I felt like I could run through a wall. My virility was excellent and my recovery time superb.

Some professional athletes use insane amounts of steroids though. I’ve heard of those guys inject upwards of 50cc’s in a week. Plus, they usually are on a combo of pharmaceutical substances. Even more crazy is some of them will use illicit drugs like cocaine too.

 

[BroomWagon]

The problem with doing it yourself with EPO is it is a blood thickener, as thick as molasses is surely an exaggeration but it’s something like this and people who are not aware how to properly administer it often die from heart failure due to the thick blood moving through the heart.

Kind of scary, there are tales of riders riding on their stationary spin bikes in the middle of the night to get their heart rate up so as to not succumb to a negative side effect of EPO.

Lance had a doctor and one doctor he had is the famous Dr. Michelle Ferrari from Milan, EPO puts the RBCs, red blood cells in you, ride up a steep mountain road but now, you’ve got those extra red blood cells and it’s a breeze. There does have to be a bit of a fascination with something that would do that. I believe blood doping, saving blood and putting it back in your own system does similar…

We humans have higher natural red blood cells count in the spring itself, if one ever did this and naturally, collect it in the spring time. Then there are machines that “spin” and you can put your blood in and end up with more red blood cells but that is manipulation but supposedly some people do say if you don’t manipulate, you are not really cheating.

Altitude tents are another thing, think they are legal and people who live in high elevations may well get more of the rbcs.

 

[ringil]

Does anybody here on CAF think that Oprah will interview John Corapi someday?

Corapi might wish.

 

[PrayRosary]

Corapi might wish.

This is the point where this thread will derail! Bail!!!

 

[TimeEntrance]

Eh… I didn’t know until watching some youtube videos that Lance Armstrong had threatened so many people and apparently ruined some of their reputations.

I didn’t know he had a charitable organization that’s done a lot of good too.

From a clip of the Oprah interview it looks as if seeing and hearing his son defend him got the best of him emotionally, and was a big reason he decided to publicly admit he was not being honest all those years.

I think I recall some many years ago that France or some people in France had accused him of doping. He denied it. And then I think I remember reading Americans posting a lot of antagonistic remarks about the French in defense of Lance Armstrong.

 

[TimeEntrance]

So I would take a pass, one sees the muscle magazines, nowadays, so many of the bodybuilders have the same muscular build and some say that is because of steroids.

I remember as a kid and teenager reading all those muscle mags like Muscle & Fitness put out by Weider. Reading all those workout plans and believing all the hype and tall-tales. All those years I wasted doing Tricep Kickbacks.

But you’re young and gullible. Later you find out the whole system was built on lies and selling to the gullible. You find out it’s not Tricep Kickbacks that got those professional bodybuilders their big arms but steroids. Then you hear stories about Weider being the big power behind making Mister Olympians etc. Without his blessing or victim of his wrath your bodybuilding career go down hill. At least back then.

Yeah… all professional bodybuilders use steroids. Simply because it is naturally impossible to get as big as many of them are with as little body fat. From what I’ve read most men–small men–can obtain 16 inch arms. Some 18 inch arms. But not every man can build 20 inch arms of solid muscle. And many of the bodybuilders today have freakishly abnormal sized monster arms.

I just watched on youtube a view point from the guy that has the TheTigerFitness channel, with his video episode: Lance Armstrong Confession.

He had an interesting perspective I guess even as a person into natural body building. He’s big himself but with a lot of body fat (for bodybuilding standards).

 

[InigoMontoya]

Eh… I didn’t know until watching some youtube videos that Lance Armstrong had threatened so many people and apparently ruined some of their reputations.

He didn’t just threaten people and ruin reputations, he destroyed careers and sued innocent people for millions, devastating them. I couldn’t even begin to guess how many million dollar lawsuits he’s won from people speaking the truth.

NY Daily News

 

[maltmom]

He didn’t just threaten people and ruin reputations, he destroyed careers and sued innocent people for millions, devastating them. I couldn’t even begin to guess how many million dollar lawsuits he’s won from people speaking the truth.

NY Daily News

I haven’t watched the interviews. Is he planning on giving back the money he was awarded?

 

[dailey]

this as much as surprise as jody foster coming out as a lesbian:shrug:

yeah, no kidding!

 

[rockonfaith1978]

Lance Armstrong is not a rider, he’s a roider. Lol.

 

[Pat_the_elder]

There’s a guy here in Scotland called Graeme Obree. He was better known for indoor track cycling than road racing - eccentric and emotionally unstable he may have been - but he could shift! He has always maintained that the cycling world was full of dopers and claims to have been sacked because of his unwillingness to take performance enhancing substances.
Here’s a wee flavour of his take.

*Obree said of his short professional career:

"I still feel I was robbed of part of my career. I was signed up to ride in the prologue of the Tour back in 1995, but it was made very obvious to me I would have to take drugs. I said no, no way, and I was sacked by my team. So there I was, 11 years later, sitting there waiting for the Tour cyclists to come by, and something welled up in me. I feel I was robbed by a lot of these b*******s taking drugs. I also hate the way that people think anyone who has ever achieved anything on a bike must have been taking drugs. I was surprised how resentful I felt when I was in Paris. It had obviously been simmering away in there for years. That's something new I'll have to talk to my therapist about."*

IMO Armstrong is only a product of a corrupt regime. Let’s see the team managers, officials, doctors and sponsors taken to task for their part in all this.

 

[GaryTaylor]

That era of cycling has some nefarious nicknames, while certainly not “everyone” was using, a staggering number were. .

So “everyone” is NOT using, glad you agree. Neither are the majority. And provide your source with these staggering numbers.

There are races where years later, there’s still no certainty who should be the winner as so many people were later deemed non-winners due to being tested, as upwards of the top 20 positions were later determined to have been doping. A certain infamous retired cyclist who was often ridiculed as being bat’ crazy essentially cried out about how obvious the cheating was during that era. He was also one of the victims who Armstrong financially pummeled. .

More self-serving comments. “we’ll john doe did it so why can’t I” Doesn’t equate to “majority” or a staggering number. Obvious cheating doesn’t validate your assumptions made. What about ALL THOSE who didn’t cheat, who were the majority, the cheaters?

The notion of it being good for the sport, is due to such incredible competitions being spectator-rating bonanzas. Everyone likes a chase to a record, or some utterly inhuman display of talent… They sell tickets, magazine covers, provide free advertising, raise excitement, bring new fans to the sport, etc.

Why do you need steroids to break a record. oh right you don’t. Spectators do not know if your on steroids or not, and the events will be just as “spectator based”. The rest is moot, fans at the dog and pony shows have never been lacking.

 

[BroomWagon]

Lance once insured himself of winning the tour, 2004 and the insurance company (SCA) balked and Lance sued them for that money; now the insurers may sue back. That in short is what this article is talking about:

The company that paid Lance Armstrong a multimillion-dollar settlement after initially balking to pay him Tour de France bonuses amid doping allegations in 2004 announced Friday it could very well revisit that judgment.

Dallas-based SCA Promotions insured a $5-million bonus offered by Armstrong’s former sponsor if he won the Tour.

When some close to the rider disclosed suspicions that Armstrong doped to win the 2004 Tour, SCA withheld the payment until Armstrong took the company to court and collected a $7.5-million settlement that included legal fees.

latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-lance-armstrong-sca-bonus-20130118,0,1060084.story

And Lance’s team use to be US Postal:

Most seriously, perhaps, is that former teammate Floyd Landis’ whistleblower suit against Armstrong, for defrauding former team sponsor the U.S. Postal Service, could be joined by the Department of Justice, exposing Armstrong to damages beyond the current settlement figure of $5 million, as reported by CBS.

 

[GaryTaylor]

ASHA

WHEREAS, anabolic steroids are medications legally available only through prescription with a very limited number of legitimate medical uses; 1
WHEREAS, anabolic steroids cannot be ethically prescribed to enhance physical development or athletic performance in healthy individuals; 2, 3
WHEREAS, it is ethical to attempt to enhance development or athletic performance through rigorous training and proper nutrition designed to maximize inherent ability and genetic potential;4
WHEREAS, from a medical perspective, any potential gain in physical development or athletic performance which may be attained through anabolic steroid use is far outweighed by the risk of severe negative consequences including violent behavior and addiction; 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
WHEREAS, anabolic steroid use by athletes entails taking large doses of potentially harmful substances to cause size increases not normally attainable with the intent of gaining an unfair advantage over competitors; and
WHEREAS, anabolic steroid use has been banned by virtually all national and international amateur athletic governing bodies and many professional athletic governing bodies within the U.S.; 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: that the American School Health Association deems any anabolic steroid use to enhance physical development in healthy individuals constitutes a form of drug abuse. Furthermore, anabolic steroid use to enhance athletic performance, even when medically supervised, constitutes a form of cheating, poses a great health threat to athletes, and undermines the essential characteristics and qualities of fair and healthy competition; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that this resolution be distributed to all state-level athletic associations and all other appropriate individuals and agencies with an interest in preventing drug abuse.

REFRENCES:

1. Title 21 United States Code (USC) Controlled Substances Act. Available at deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/829.htm.
2. Kennedy, M. & Kennedy, J. (1999). Ethics of prescribing drugs to enhance sporting performance. The Medical Journal of Australia, 171: 204-205.
3. Hamilton, C. (2005). Medical ethics and performance-enhancing drugs. Ethics Journal of the American Medical Association. 7:11. Available at virtualmentor.ama- assn.org.
4. National Strength and Conditioning Association. Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use by Athletes Position Statement. Available at: nsca-lift.org/Publications/AAS%20high.pdf.

 

[ringil]

Lance Armstrong is not a rider, he’s a roider. Lol.

lol. . . roider. .

 

[BroomWagon]

ASHA

WHEREAS, anabolic steroids are medications legally available only through prescription with a very limited number of legitimate medical uses; 1
**WHEREAS, anabolic steroids cannot be ethically prescribed to enhance physical development or athletic performance in healthy individuals; 2, 3
WHEREAS, it is ethical to attempt to enhance development or athletic performance through rigorous training and proper nutrition designed to maximize inherent ability and genetic potential;4 **
WHEREAS, from a medical perspective, any potential gain in physical development or athletic performance which may be attained through anabolic steroid use is far outweighed by the risk of severe negative consequences including violent behavior and addiction; 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
WHEREAS, anabolic steroid use by athletes entails taking large doses of potentially harmful substances to cause size increases not normally attainable with the intent of gaining an unfair advantage over competitors; and
WHEREAS, anabolic steroid use has been banned by virtually all national and international amateur athletic governing bodies and many professional athletic governing bodies within the U.S.; 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: that the American School Health Association deems any anabolic steroid use to enhance physical development in healthy individuals constitutes a form of drug abuse. Furthermore, anabolic steroid use to enhance athletic performance, even when medically supervised, constitutes a form of cheating, poses a great health threat to athletes, and undermines the essential characteristics and qualities of fair and healthy competition; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that this resolution be distributed to all state-level athletic associations and all other appropriate individuals and agencies with an interest in preventing drug abuse.

REFRENCES:

1. Title 21 United States Code (USC) Controlled Substances Act. Available at deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/829.htm.
2. Kennedy, M. & Kennedy, J. (1999). Ethics of prescribing drugs to enhance sporting performance. The Medical Journal of Australia, 171: 204-205.
3. Hamilton, C. (2005). Medical ethics and performance-enhancing drugs. Ethics Journal of the American Medical Association. 7:11. Available at virtualmentor.ama- assn.org.
4. National Strength and Conditioning Association. Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use by Athletes Position Statement. Available at: nsca-lift.org/Publications/AAS%20high.pdf.

It looks like seeing if injuries increased in the NFL is all over the board though this article msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/NFL-concussions-increase-21-percent-from-last-season-121310 does show an increase in Concussions as they have tried to implement rules, too, it appears players weight especially for your linemen have increased over the years.

Here is the rub, maybe for personal use, their may be a limited downside to steroid use, as Stallone and Arnold may have done.

But you put them in a sport like our American Football where you have players colliding and you have players getting faster with steroids and probably heavier and more muscular due to steroids, that too is a problem with the use of steroids, it comes down to more injuries and probably concussions, the latter the NFL has been going at length to decrease and which of course, they are being sued over and apparently a number of players have suffered from the likes of dementia.

Many more concussions are being reported in the NFL this season, which the league considers evidence that players and teams are taking head injuries more seriously.

According to NFL data obtained by The Associated Press, 154 concussions that happened in practices or games were reported from the start of the preseason through the eighth week of the 2010 regular season.

That is an increase of 21 percent over the 127 concussions through the eighth week of the 2009 season, and a 34 percent jump from the 115 reported over the same span in 2008.

msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/NFL-concussions-increase-21-percent-from-last-season-121310

Of course, in a non-contact kind of sport like baseball in general or cycling, concussions and injury would not really be problematic however making “false talent” as would be the case in the NFL would be all the same.