AMSTRONG ETHICAL CASE

“PAIN IS TEMPORARY, IT MAY LAST A MINUTE, OR AN HOUR, OR A DAY, OR A YEAR, BUT EVENTUALLY IT WILL SUBSIDE AND SOMETHING
ELSE WILL TAKE ITS PLACE. IF I QUIT, HOWEVER, IT LAST FOREVER.”
 LANCE ARMSTRONG

CASE
Lance Armstrong was once an icon. In 1993, he became the professional world champion of the Union
Cycliste Internationale Road World Championship. Between 1999 and 2005, Armstrong achieved an
unprecedented seven consecutive wins of the Tour de France. But shadowing this success were allegations
that he had used banned performance-enhancing drugs. After an investigation by the United States Anti-
Doping Agency in 2012, evidence of Armstrong’s doping activities was verified. He was banned from Olympic
sports for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

Armstrong also encouraged his teammates on the U.S. cycling team to use performance-enhancing drugs and
match his performance. The investigation into Armstrong’s doping revealed how extensive his use of drugs
was, how he developed a system to maintain secrecy, and how his teammates were pressured into doping, as
well. The report from the antidoping agency’s investigation stated, “It was not enough that his teammates
give maximum effort on the bike, he also required that they adhere to the doping program outlined for them
or be replaced. He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team, he enforced and re-enforced it.” The
agency also reported, “[Armstrong] acted with the help of a small army of enablers, including doping doctors,
drug smugglers, and others within and outside the sport and on his team.” Teammate Christian Vande Velde
described a confrontation with Armstrong, in which Armstrong threatened Vande Velde’s position on the
team if he did not follow the drug program. Vande Velde stated that team doctor Luis Garcia del Moral
“would run into the room and you would quickly find a needle in your arm,” referring to the injection as
“vitamins.”
OPINION
I consider that the case was well judged because all the victories that he had so far were withdrawn and he
was prohibited from playing again in the Olympic games as, additionally I consider that sufficient research
was investigated and they did not only stay with the last game but that they also investigated in previous
victories.

REFERENCES
  Armstrong’s Doping Downfall. ethicsunwrapped. (2018). Retrieved 11 August 2020, from
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/armstrongs-doping-downfall.

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