Lance Armstrong
Cyclist from the United States
- Entries
- 13
- On the record
- 4
- Stories
- 2
- Latest entry
- Apr 19, 2018
The record
Outside the televised confession and the stripped Tour de France titles, Lance Armstrong's own record is mostly legal paperwork. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's October 2012 decision, which he chose not to contest, set off a chain of sanctions: the UCI accepted his lifetime ban and lost results, the IOC took back his 2000 Olympic time-trial bronze, and he stepped down as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer charity he founded in 1997.
The money cases ran for years. SCA Promotions, a Dallas company that had paid him Tour bonuses, won a $10 million arbitration award against him in February 2015 and settled with him confidentially that September. The federal False Claims Act suit filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, which the Justice Department joined in 2013, survived his bid for summary judgment and ended in April 2018 with a $5 million settlement.
That federal case did not go only one way. In 2016 the court in Washington entered summary judgment for Armstrong and his former business representatives on the reverse-false-claims count, and in 2017 Judge Christopher Cooper adopted Armstrong's benefit-of-the-bargain approach to damages while leaving the amount to a jury. Under the 2018 settlement Landis received $1.1 million, and Armstrong agreed to pay $1.65 million toward Landis's legal costs.
Roles and honours on the record
- 1997 Founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, later Livestrong source
- until 2012 Chairman of Livestrong; stepped down in October 2012 and stayed on its board source
- from 1995 Lead rider of the cycling team the U.S. Postal Service agreed to sponsor in 1995 and again in 2000, the subject of the Landis False Claims Act case source
Every entry, newest first
- Reported
Armstrong's televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, aired January 17, 2013 Lance Armstrong stripped of 7 Tour titles; Nike and Trek walk
- Reported
UCI accepted USADA's findings and stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour titles (the source reports acceptance of the findings, not a declined appeal) Lance Armstrong stripped of 7 Tour titles; Nike and Trek walk
- Reported
Nike statement terminating its sponsorship of Armstrong Lance Armstrong stripped of 7 Tour titles; Nike and Trek walk
Stories in this file
Sports ยท ๐ด Biggest punishments in sport: Armstrong's stripped titles lead
Seven rulings from cycling, cricket, baseball and athletics. Butt and Gatlin dispute parts of their cases; Rodriguez said he would appeal. โณ
STRIPPEDPhoto: Amit Batra ยท Pexels License๐ด Lance Armstrong stripped of 7 Tour titles; Nike and Trek walk
USADA's 2012 report brought a lifetime ban, and six sponsors cut ties within days. Three months later he confessed to Oprah on camera. ๐
The record, entry by entry
- 2012-10-10 Official USADA sent its reasoned decision to the UCI, WADA and the World Triathlon Corporation, citing sworn testimony from 26 people, including 11 former teammates. Armstrong, who did not contest the evidence, received a lifetime ban and lost his results from 1998 onward. USADA, statement by CEO Travis T. Tygart
- 2012-10-17 Reported Armstrong stepped down as chairman of Livestrong a week after the USADA report but stayed on its 15-member board; Nike ended its personal sponsorship contract the same day. Associated Press via NBC Washington
- 2012-10-22 Official UCI president Pat McQuaid announced that cycling's governing body accepted USADA's sanctions, stripping the seven Tour de France titles and banning Armstrong, and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. BikeRadar report
- 2013-01-17 Reported The IOC wrote to Armstrong asking him to return his bronze medal from the Sydney 2000 road time trial; the placing was left vacant rather than reassigned. Al Jazeera report
- 2013-02-22 Filed The Justice Department joined Floyd Landis's whistleblower suit alleging Armstrong defrauded the government while riding for the Postal Service team. His lawyer said talks failed because the sides disagreed about whether the Postal Service was damaged. UPI report
- 2015-02-04 Ruled A three-member arbitration panel ruled 2-1 that Armstrong and Tailwind Sports must pay SCA Promotions $10 million as a penalty for lying under oath in an earlier case. His lawyer said the award was contrary to Texas law. CBS News Texas report
- 2015-09-28 Reported Armstrong and SCA Promotions settled their decade-long bonus dispute on confidential terms before a Dallas judge ruled on the award, and Armstrong apologized to SCA for any past misconduct on his part. Courthouse News Service report
- 2016-02-12 Ruled The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered summary judgment for Armstrong and his former business representatives on the reverse-false-claims count, while letting the direct false-claims counts proceed. U.S. District Court for D.C., memorandum opinion, No. 1:10-cv-00976
- 2017-02-13 Ruled Judge Christopher Cooper denied Armstrong's motion for summary judgment and sent damages to a jury, while adopting his proposed benefit-of-the-bargain approach to calculating them. Courthouse News Service report
- 2018-04-19 Reported Armstrong agreed to pay $5 million to settle the government's suit over the Postal Service sponsorship, with $1.1 million going to Landis and a further $1.65 million toward Landis's legal costs. He said he was glad to resolve the case. UPI report