What do the French have against Lance Armstrong

mrsv98

Gracie's Mama, Certified chicken wrangler
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Yesterday, the Dutch investigator appointed by the cycling commission not only cleared Lance of doping but also reamed the French labs that did the testing and the Word Anti-Doping agancy about how they handled the testing. So today, L’Equipe printed an editorial saying that they would not retract the allegations and stand by them. Geesh...what a vendetta....also, the way they call him "the American" seems very snotty to me....

MSNBC Article
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The French sports newspaper that accused Lance Armstrong of doping stood by its reporting Thursday, a day after an investigator cleared the seven-time Tour de France champion.

“There is nothing to retract from the revelations,” L’Equipe said in an editorial that concluded: “For our part, we remain convinced of the need to battle without compromise against the mafialike tendencies that still and always threaten the sport of cycling. Both in the method and the substance, L’Equipe stands firm.”

The newspaper repeated its allegations of last August that tests on six of Armstrong’s urine samples from the 1999 Tour had detected an “irrefutable presence” of the banned endurance-boosting hormone EPO.

The samples “showed that the American did indeed lie by saying throughout his career, notably at the time in question, that he never took banned products,” the newspaper said.

Dutch investigator Emile Vrijman, who was appointed by cycling’s governing body to investigate the handling of the urine tests by the French national anti-doping laboratory, cleared Armstrong in a report released Wednesday.

The report said tests on the urine samples were conducted improperly and fell so short of scientific standards that it was “completely irresponsible” to suggest they “constitute evidence of anything.”

The investigation also concluded that the French laboratory that handled the samples and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is headed by Dick Pound, “violated applicable rules on athlete confidentiality by commenting publicly on the alleged positive findings.”

The French lab’s director did not return phone calls Wednesday, and the phone rang unanswered late Thursday afternoon.

Armstrong said the investigation confirmed “what I have been saying since this witch hunt began: Dick Pound, WADA, the French laboratory, the French Ministry of Sport, L’Equipe, and the Tour de France organizers ... have been out to discredit and target me without any basis and falsely accused me of taking performance enhancing drugs in 1999.”
 
Some French are not exactly delighted that a foreigner won their most important sports event - such things happen.
The same happened i.e. in American car racing several times when European or Japanese manufacturers won races and suddenly the rules where changed to make American manufacturers win again.
It's not fair, but it happens.
IMHO Lance Armstrong is an Alltime Champion and will always be - especially when you take his medical history into account. And our Jan Ulrich can only take a shot at his second Tour Victory this year, because Lance will not participate.
 
What do they have against him?


Jealousy.

And the fact that an American so throughly dominated a "European" sport.
 
Viking said:
Some French are not exactly delighted that a foreigner won their most important sports event - such things happen.

::yes:: ::yes:: I agree. :) It's not specifically that he's American, but that he's not French.
 

They are *IRRITATED* that an American has won their most important sporting event for seven years straight and will do anything to discredit him.
 
Deb in IA said:
What do they have against him?


Jealousy.

And the fact that an American so throughly dominated a "European" sport.

My thoughts exactly!
 
My favorite Lance quote:
"What am I on? I'm on my bike. Six hours a day. What are you on?"
 
Jealousy and poor sportsmanship.

You can bet that if a Frenchman had won seven consecutive times, there wouldn't have been any of these allegations. :rolleyes:
 
All of the above. No debate here! ;)
 
France would be a wonderful place if it weren't for all the French people who live there.
 
I guess the French are desperate to add to their "victories" in the world.

As if you have to cheat to beat the French anyway?
 
I have traveled extensively in France, I like the French, and I enjoy talking with them. Most of the French people I have spoken with admire Lance Armstrong and are impressed with his commitment to cancer-related causes. There are some who have tried to pull him down in order to create a scandal or sell newspapers, but it's a stretch to claim that there is a general French conspiracy against Lance Armstrong.
 
Is it time to bash the French again? I must have forgotten to set my watch.
 
eclectics said:
Is it time to bash the French again? I must have forgotten to set my watch.


Oh sorry....I thought THEY were bashing Lance Armstrong. :rolleyes: I am half French/Canadian so no French bashing here.
 
tiggersmom2 said:
Oh sorry....I thought THEY were bashing Lance Armstrong. :rolleyes: I am half French/Canadian so no French bashing here.


THEY meaning who exactly? Call me crazy but I won't bash an entire country's citizens for the actions of some. I've known quite a few French and believe me they are a lot nicer than some Americans I've had the displeasure to know. But I guess that makes me unpatriotic, right?
 
eclectics said:
THEY meaning who exactly? Call me crazy but I won't bash an entire country's citizens for the actions of some. I've known quite a few French and believe me they are a lot nicer than some Americans I've had the displeasure to know. But I guess that makes me unpatriotic, right?

No, just a socialist liberal...nothing wrong with that! :goodvibes
 
eclectics said:
THEY meaning who exactly? Call me crazy but I won't bash an entire country's citizens for the actions of some. I've known quite a few French and believe me they are a lot nicer than some Americans I've had the displeasure to know. But I guess that makes me unpatriotic, right?

WTH? Where'd that come from? A little gun-shy are we?
 
Oh good grief. There are rude French and nice French, and there are rude Americans and there are nice Americans. No one country holds everyone who's rude.

As for Lance Armstrong, it does sound like SOME French are jealous. I don't think that it has anything to do with him being American but rather it's because he's something besides French.
 


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